• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.95-103
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• 2008

This paper deals with the problem of autolanding for aircraft under windshear environment for which the landing trajectory is given. It is well known that the landing maneuver in windshear turbulence is very dangerous and hard for the pilot to control because windshear is unpredictable in when and where it happens and its aerodynamic characteristics are complicated. In order to accomplish satisfactory autolanding maneuver in this environment, we propose a gain-scheduled controller. The proposed controller consists of three parts: PID controller, called baseline controller, which is designed to satisfy requirements of stability and performance without considering windshear, gain scheduler based on fuzzy logic, and safety decision logic, which decides if the current autolanding maneuver needs to be aborted or not. The controller is applied to a 6-DOF simulation model of the associated airplane in order to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm. It is noted that a cross wind in the lateral direction is included to the simulation model. From the simulation results it is observed that the proposed gain scheduled controller shows superior performance than the case of controller without gain scheduling even in severe downburst and tailwind region of windshear. In addition, touchdown along centerline of the runway is more precise for the proposed controller than for the controller without gain scheduling in the cross wind and the tailwind.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.193-208
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• 2008

This paper focuses on assessing the failure of one of the transmission towers that collapsed in Winnipeg, Canada, as a result of a microburst event. The study is conducted using a fluid-structure numerical model that was developed in-house. A major challenge in microburst-related problems is that the forces acting on a structure vary with the microburst parameters including the descending jet velocity, the diameter of the event and the relative location between the structure and the jet. The numerical model, which combines wind field data for microbursts together with a non-linear finite element formulation, is capable of predicting the progressive failure of a tower that initiates after one of its member reaches its capacity. The model is employed first to determine the microburst parameters that are likely to initiate failure of a number of critical members of the tower. Progressive failure analysis of the tower is then conducted by applying the loads associated with those critical configurations. The analysis predicts a collapse of the conductors cross-arm under a microburst reference velocity that is almost equal to the corresponding value for normal wind load that was used in the design of the structure. A similarity between the predicted modes of failure and the post event field observations was shown.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.85-102
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• 2020

Accurate load evaluation is essential in any performance-based design. Design wind speeds and associated wind loads are well defined for synoptic boundary layer winds but not for thunderstorms. The method presented in the current study represents a new approach to obtain design wind speeds associated with thunderstorms and their gust fronts using historical data and Monte Carlo simulations. The method consists of the following steps (i) developing a numerical model for thunderstorm downdrafts (i.e. downbursts) to account for storm translation and outflow dissipation, (ii) utilizing the model to characterize previous events and (iii) extrapolating the limited wind speed data to cover life-span of structures. The numerical model relies on a previously generated CFD wind field, which is validated using six documented thunderstorm events. The model suggests that 10 parameters are required to describe the characteristics of an event. The model is then utilized to analyze wind records obtained at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (KLBB) meteorological station to identify the thunderstorm parameters for this location, obtain their probability distributions, and utilized in the Monte Carlo simulation of thunderstorm gust front events for many thousands of years for the purpose of estimating design wind speeds. The analysis suggests a potential underestimation of design wind speeds when neglecting thunderstorm gust fronts, which is common practice in analyzing historical wind records. When compared to the design wind speed for a 700-year MRI in ASCE 7-10 and ASCE 7-16, the estimated wind speeds from the simulation were 10% and 11.5% higher, respectively.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2018

Wall jet flow exists widely in engineering applications, including the simulation of thunderstorm downburst outflows, and has been investigated extensively by both experimental and numerical methods. Most previous studies focused on the scaling laws and self-similarity, while the effect of lip thickness and external stream height on mean velocity has not been examined in detail. The present work is a numerical study, using steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations at a Reynolds number of $3.5{\times}10^4$, of a turbulent plane wall jet with an external stream to investigate the influence of the wall jet domain on downstream development of the flow. The comparisons of flow characteristics simulated by the Reynolds stress turbulence model closure (Stress-omega, SWRSM) and experimental results indicate that this model may be considered reasonable for simulating the wall jet. The confined wall jet is further analyzed in a parametric study, with the results compared to the experimental data. The results indicate that the height and the width of the wind tunnel and the lip thickness of the jet nozzle have a great effect on the wall jet development. The top plate of the tunnel does not confine the development of the wall jet within 200b of the nozzle when the height of the tunnel is more than 40b (b is the height of jet nozzle). The features of the centerline flow in the mid plane of the 3D numerical model are close to those of the 2D simulated plane wall jet when the width of the tunnel is more than 20b.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.413-431
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• 2010

The focus of this article is on the assessment of vertical wind vector components and their aerodynamic impact on lattice framework, specifically two distinct sections of a guyed transmission tower. Thunderstorm winds, notably very localized events such as convective downdrafts (including downbursts) and tornadoes, result in a different load on a tower's structural system in terms of magnitude and spatial distribution when compared to horizontal synoptic winds. Findings of previous model-scale experiments are outlined and their results considered for the development of a testing rig that allows for rotation about multiple body axes through a series of wind tunnel tests. Experimental results for the wind loads on two unique experimental models are presented and the difference in behaviour discussed. For a model cross arm with a solidity ratio of approximately 30%, the drag load was increased by 14% when at a pitch angle of $20^{\circ}$. Although the effects of rotation about the vertical body axis, or the traditional 'angle of attack', are recognized by design codes as being significant, provisions for vertical winds are absent from each set of wind loading specifications examined. The inclusion of a factor to relate winds with a vertical component to the horizontal speed is evaluated as a vertical wind factor applicable to load calculations. Member complexity and asymmetric geometry often complicate the use of lattice wind loading provisions, which is a challenge that extends to future studies and codification. Nevertheless, the present work is intended to establish a basis for such studies.

• Atmosphere
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.519-530
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• 2023

Deep convection can make adverse effects on safe and efficient aviation operations by causing various weather hazards such as convectively-induced turbulence, icing, lightning, and downburst. To prevent such damage, it is necessary to accurately predict spatiotemporal distribution of deep convective area near the airport and airspace. This study developed a new index, the Aviation Convective Index (ACI), for deep convection, using the operational global Unified Model of the Korea Meteorological Administration. The ACI was computed from combination of three different variables: 3-hour maximum of Convective Available Potential Energy, averaged Outgoing Longwave Radiation, and accumulative precipitation using the fuzzy logic algorithm. In this algorithm, the individual membership function was newly developed following the cumulative distribution function for each variable in Korean Peninsula. This index was validated and optimized by using the 1-yr period of radar mosaic data. According to the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve (AUC) and True Skill Score (TSS), the yearly optimized ACI (ACI_YrOpt) based on the optimal weighting coefficients for 1-yr period shows a better skill than the no optimized one (ACI_NoOpt) with the uniform weights. In all forecast time from 6-hour to 48-hour, the AUC and TSS value of ACI_YrOpt were higher than those of ACI_NoOpt, showing the improvement of averaged value of AUC and TSS by 1.67% and 4.20%, respectively.