Large-Eddy Simulation of a Tornado’s Interaction with the Surface

High-resolution, fully three-dimensional, unsteady simulations of the interaction of a tornado vortex with the surface were performed in an attempt to answer questions about the character of turbulent transport in this unique flow. The authors demonstrate that sufficient resolution was achieved for the particular physical conditions of their example that the time-averaged velocity and pressure distributions showed little sensitivity in the region of maximum velocities to either finer resolution or modified subgrid turbulent model. The time-averaged velocity distributions show the maximum velocity values occurring within 50 m of the surface. The instantaneous velocity distributions show the turbulence dominated by a relatively small number of strong secondary vortices spiralling around the main vortex with the maximum instantaneous velocities typically one-third larger than the maximum time-averaged velocity. These eddies are centered a little inside of the cone of maximum mean swirl velocity and spiral around the mean vortex at velocities less than the average maximum velocity. Statistical analysis of the velocity fluctuations induced by the secondary vortices shows that the turbulent transport of angular momentum is predominantly inward at low levels, allowing the inner recirculating flow to acquire values of angular momentum of up to 30% of that provided by the inflow boundary conditions, thus enhancing the surface intensification of the velocities.