A Numerical Method for Integrating the Kinetic Equation of Coalescence and Breakup of Cloud Droplets.
Abstract
An extension of Bleck' method and of the method of moments is developed for the numerical integration of the kinetic equation of coalescence and breakup of cloud droplets. The number density function nk(x,t) in each separate cloud droplet packet between droplet mass grid points (xk,xk+1) is represented by an expansion in orthogonal polynomials with a given weighting function wk(x,k). The expansion coefficients describe the deviations of nk(x,t) from wk(x,k). In this way droplet number concentrations, liquid water contents and other moments in each droplet packet are conserved, and the problem of solving the kinetic equation is replaced by one of solving a set of coupled differential equations for the moments of the number density function nk(x,t). Equations for these moments in each droplet packet are derived. The method is tested against existing solutions of the coalescence equation. Numerical results are obtained when Bleck's uniform distribution hypothesis for nk(x,t) and Golovin's asymptotic solution of the coalescence equation is chosen for the, weighting function wk(x, k). A comparison between numerical results computed by Bleck's method and by the method of this study is made. It is shown that for the correct computation of the coalescence and breakup interactions between cloud droplet packets it is very important that the, approximation of the nk(x,t) between grid points (xk,xk+1) satisfies the conservation conditions for the number concentration, liquid water content and other moments of the cloud droplet packets. If these conservation conditions are provided, even the quasi-linear approximation of the nk(x,t) in comparison with Berry's six-point interpolation will give reasonable results which are very close to the existing analytic solutions.
- Publication:
-
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
- Pub Date:
- November 1980
- DOI:
- 10.1175/1520-0469(1980)037<2521:ANMFIT>2.0.CO;2
- Bibcode:
- 1980JAtS...37.2521E