This study uses higher-order dynamic mode decomposition to analyze a high-fidelity database of the turbulent flow in an urban environment consisting of two buildings separated by a certain distance. We recognize the characteristics of the well-known arch vortex forming on the leeward side of the first building and document this vortex's generation and destruction mechanisms based on the resulting temporal modes. We show that the arch vortex plays a prominent role in the dispersion of pollutants in urban environments, where its generation leads to an increase in their concentration; therefore, the reported mechanisms are of extreme importance for urban sustainability.
Understanding flow structures in urban areas is being widely recognized as a challenging concern due to its effect on urban development, air quality, and pollutant dispersion. In this study, state-of-the-art data-driven methods for modal analysis of urban flows are used to understand better the dominant flow processes that occur in this phenomenon. Higher-order dynamic mode decomposition (HODMD), a highly-efficient method to analyze turbulent flows, is used with traditional techniques such as proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) to analyze high-fidelity simulation data of a simplified urban environment. Furthermore, the spatio-temporal Koopman decomposition (STKD) will be applied to the temporal modes obtained with HODMD to perform spatial analysis. The flow interaction within the canopy influences the flow structures, particularly the arch vortex. The latter is a vortical structure generally found downstream wall-mounted obstacles that appears due to flow separation. Therefore, the main objective of the present study is to characterize the mechanisms that promote these dynamics in urban areas with different geometries. Remarkably, among all the vortical structures identified by the HODMD algorithm, low-and high-frequency modes are classified according to their relation with the arch vortex. They are referred to as vortex-generators and vortex-breakers, respectively. This classification implies that one of the processes driving the formation and destruction of major vortical structures in between the buildings is the interaction between low-and high-frequency structures. The high energy revealed by the POD-decomposition for the vortex-breaker modes points to this destruction process as the mechanism driving the flow dynamics. Furthermore, the results obtained with the STKD method show how the generatingand breaking-mechanisms are originated along with the streamwise and spanwise directions.
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