• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.389-404
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• 2015

In this study, residential building damage states observed from a post-tornado damage survey in Joplin after a 2011 EF 5 tornado were used to reconstruct the near-surface wind field. It was based on well-studied relationships between Degrees of Damage (DOD) of building and wind speeds in the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale. A total of 4,166 one- or two-family residences (FR12) located in the study area were selected and their DODs were recorded. Then, the wind speeds were estimated with the EF scale. The peak wind speed profile estimated from damage of buildings was used to fit a translating analytical vortex model. Agreement between simulated peak wind speeds and observed damages confirms the feasibility of using post-tornado damage surveys for reconstructing the near-surface wind field. In addition to peak wind speeds, the model can create the time history of wind speed and direction at any given point, offering opportunity to better understand tornado parameters and wind field structures. Future work could extend the method to tornadoes of different characteristics and therefore improve model's generalizability.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.75-96
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• 2008

A better understanding of tornado-induced wind loads is needed to improve the design of typical structures to resist these winds. An accurate understanding of the loads requires knowledge of near-ground tornado winds, but observations in this region are lacking. The first goal of this study was to verify how well a CFD model, when driven by far field radar observations and laboratory measurements, could capture the flow characteristics of both full scale and laboratory-simulated tornadoes. A second goal was to use the model to examine the sensitivity of the simulations to various parameters that might affect the laboratory simulator tornado. An understanding of near-ground winds in tornadoes will require coordinated efforts in both computational and physical simulation. The sensitivity of computational simulations of a tornado to geometric parameters and surface roughness within a domain based on the Iowa State University laboratory tornado simulator was investigated. In this study, CFD simulations of the flow field in a model domain that represents a laboratory tornado simulator were conducted using Doppler radar and laboratory velocity measurements as boundary conditions. The tornado was found to be sensitive to a variety of geometric parameters used in the numerical model. Increased surface roughness was found to reduce the tangential speed in the vortex near the ground and enlarge the core radius of the vortex. The core radius was a function of the swirl ratio while the peak tangential flow was a function of the magnitude of the total inflow velocity. The CFD simulations showed that it is possible to numerically simulate the surface winds of a tornado and control certain parameters of the laboratory simulator to influence the tornado characteristics of interest to engineers and match those of the field.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.541-563
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• 2014

This paper investigates the topographic effects on wind characteristics over hilly terrain, based on wind data recorded at a number of meteorological stations in or near complex terrain. The multiply data sources allow a more detailed investigation of the flow field than is normally possible. Vertical profiles of mean and turbulent wind components from a Sodar profiler were presented and then modeled as functions of height and wind speed. The correlations between longitudinal and vertical wind components were discussed. The phenomena of flow separation and generation of vortices were observed. The distance-dependence of the topographic effects on gust factors was revealed subsequently. Furthermore, the canyon effect was identified and discussed based on the observations of wind at a saddle point between two mountain peaks. This study aims to further understanding of the characteristics of surface wind over rugged terrain. The presented results are expected to be useful for structural design, prevention of pollutant dispersion, and validation of CFD (computational fluid dynamics) models or techniques over complex terrains.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.595-610
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• 2003

The statistical indexes such as RMSE (Root Mean Square Error), Mean Bias error, and IOA (Index of agreement) are used to evaluate 3 Dimensional wind and temperature fields predicted by operational meteorological model RAMS (Regional Atmospheric Meteorological System) implemented in CARIS (Chemical Accident Response Information System) for the dispersion forecast of hazardous chemicals in case of the chemical accidents in Korea. The operational atmospheric model, RAMS in CARIS are designed to use GDAPS, GTS, and AWS meteorological data obtained from KMA (Korean Meteorological Administration) for the generation of 3-dimensional initial meteorological fields. The predicted meteorological variables such as wind speed, wind direction, temperature, and precipitation amount, during 19 ∼ 23, August 2002, are extracted at the nearest grid point to the meteorological monitoring sites, and validated against the observations located over the Korean peninsula. The results show that Mean bias and Root Mean Square Error are 0.9 (m/s), 1.85 (m/s) for wind speed at 10 m above the ground, respectively, and 1.45 ($^{\circ}C$), 2.82 ($^{\circ}C$) for surface temperature. Of particular interest is the distribution of forecasting error predicted by RAMS with respect to the altitude; relatively smaller error is found in the near-surface atmosphere for wind and temperature fields, while it grows larger as the altitude increases. Overall, some of the overpredictions in comparisons with the observations are detected for wind and temperature fields, whereas relatively small errors are found in the near-surface atmosphere. This discrepancies are partly attributed to the oversimplified spacing of soil, soil contents and initial temperature fields, suggesting some improvement could probably be gained if the sub-grid scale nature of moisture and temperature fields was taken into account. However, IOA values for the wind field (0.62) as well as temperature field (0.78) is greater than the 'good' value criteria (> 0.5) implied by other studies. The good value of IOA along with relatively small wind field error in the near surface atmosphere implies that, on the basis of current meteorological data for initial fields, RAMS has good potentials to be used as a operational meteorological model in predicting the urban or local scale 3-dimensional wind fields for the dispersion forecast in association with hazardous chemical releases in Korea.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.629-660
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• 2013

This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art in the numerical evaluation of wind loads on buildings. Important aspects of numerical modeling including (i) turbulence modeling, (ii) inflow boundary conditions, (iii) ground surface roughness, (iv) near wall treatments, and (vi) quantification of wind loads using the techniques of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are summarized. Relative advantages of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) over Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and hybrid RANS-LES over LES are discussed based on physical realism and ease of application for wind load evaluation. Overall LES based simulations seem suitable for wind load evaluation. A need for computational wind load validations in comparison with experimental or field data is emphasized. A comparative study among numerical and experimental wind load evaluation on buildings demonstrated generally good agreements on the mean values, but more work is imperative for accurate peak design wind load evaluations. Particularly more research is needed on transient inlet boundaries and near wall modeling related issues.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.28-43
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• 2023

Background: High-fidelity meteorological data is a prerequisite for the realistic simulation of atmospheric dispersion of radioactive materials near nuclear power plants (NPPs). However, many meteorological models frequently overestimate near-surface wind speeds, failing to represent local meteorological conditions near NPPs. This study presents a new high-resolution (approximately 1 km) meteorological downscaling method for modeling short-range (< 100 km) atmospheric dispersion of accidental NPP plumes. Materials and Methods: Six considerations from literature reviews have been suggested for a new dynamic downscaling method. The dynamic downscaling method is developed based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model version 3.6.1, applying high-resolution land-use and topography data. In addition, a new subgrid-scale topographic drag parameterization has been implemented for a realistic representation of the atmospheric surface-layer momentum transfer. Finally, a year-long simulation for the Kori and Wolsong NPPs, located in southeastern coastal areas, has been made for 2016 and evaluated against operational surface meteorological measurements and the NPPs' on-site weather stations. Results and Discussion: The new dynamic downscaling method can represent multiscale atmospheric motions from the synoptic to the boundary-layer scales and produce three-dimensional local meteorological fields near the NPPs with a 1.2 km grid resolution. Comparing the year-long simulation against the measurements showed a salient improvement in simulating near-surface wind fields by reducing the root mean square error of approximately 1 m/s. Furthermore, the improved wind field simulation led to a better agreement in the Eulerian estimate of the local atmospheric dispersion. The new subgrid-scale topographic drag parameterization was essential for improved performance, suggesting the importance of the subgrid-scale momentum interactions in the atmospheric surface layer. Conclusion: A new dynamic downscaling method has been developed to produce high-resolution local meteorological fields around the Kori and Wolsong NPPs, which can be used in short-range atmospheric dispersion modeling near the NPPs.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.377-394
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• 2012

To elucidate the mechanism associated with the development of heavy precipitation system, a field experiment was carried out in Jejudo (or Jeju Island) and Marado, Korea from 22 June to 12 July 2006. The synoptic atmospheric conditions were analyzed using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Research's (NCEP/NCAR) reanalyzed data, weather maps, and sounding data. The kinematic characteristics of each precipitation system were investigated by dual Doppler radar analysis. During the field experiment, data of four precipitation events with more than 20 mm rainfall were collected. In F case (frontal precipitation), a typical Changma front was dominant and the observation field was fully saturated. However there was no convective instability near the surface. LF case (low pressure accompanied with Changma front) showed strong convective instability near the surface, while a strong convergence corresponded to the low pressure from China accompanied with Changma front. In FT case (Changma front indirectly influenced by typhoon), the presence of a convective instability indicated the transport of near surface, strong additional moisture from the typhoon 'EWINIAR'. The convergence wind field was ground to be located at a low level. The convective instability was not significant in T case (precipitation of the typhoon 'EWINIAR'), since the typhoon passed through Jejudo and the Changma front was disappeared toward the northeastern region of the Korean peninsula. The kinematic (convergence and divergence) characteristics of wind fields, convective instability, and additional moisture inflow played important roles in the formation and development of heavy precipitation.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.505-522
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• 2014

While effects of the atmospheric boundary layer flow on engineering infrastructure are more or less known, some local transient winds create difficulties for structures, traffic and human activities. Hence, further research is required to fully elucidate flow characteristics of some of those very unique local winds. In this study, important characteristics of observed vertical velocity profiles along the main wind direction for the gusty Bora wind blowing along the eastern Adriatic coast are presented. Commonly used empirical power-law and the logarithmic-law profiles are compared against unique 3-level high-frequency Bora measurements. The experimental data agree well with the power-law and logarithmic-law approximations. An interesting feature observed is a decrease in the power-law exponent and aerodynamic surface roughness length, and an increase in friction velocity with increasing Bora wind velocity. This indicates an urban-like velocity profile for smaller wind velocities and rural-like velocity profile for larger wind velocities, which is due to a stronger increase in absolute velocity at each of the heights observed as compared to the respective velocity gradient (difference in average velocity among two different heights). The trends observed are similar during both the day and night. The thermal stratification is near neutral due to a strong mechanical mixing. The differences in aerodynamic surface roughness length are negligible for different time averaging periods when using the median. For the friction velocity, the arithmetic mean proved to be independent of the time record length, while for the power-law exponent both the arithmetic mean and the median are not influenced by the time averaging period. Another issue is a large difference in aerodynamic surface roughness length when calculating using the arithmetic mean and the median. This indicates that the more robust median is a more suitable parameter to determine the aerodynamic surface roughness length than the arithmetic mean value. Variations in velocity profiles at the same site during different wind periods are interesting because, in the engineering community, it has been commonly accepted that the aerodynamic characteristics at a particular site remain the same during various wind regimes.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.193-211
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• 2013

This paper presents results from a wind tunnel study that examined the drag coefficient and wind flow over an asymmetric wave train immersed in turbulent boundary layer flow. The modeled wavy surface consisted of eight replicas of a statistically-valid hurricane-generated wave, located near the coast in the shoaling wave region. For an aerodynamically rough model surface, the air flow remained attached and a pronounced speed-up region was evident over the wave crest. A wavelength-averaged drag coefficient was determined using the wind profile method, common to both field and laboratory settings. It was found that the drag coefficient was approximately 50% higher than values obtained in deep water hurricane conditions. This study suggests that nearshore wave drag is markedly higher than over deep water waves of similar size, and provides the groundwork for assessing the impact of nearshore wave conditions on storm surge modeling and coastal wind engineering.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 1998.09a
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• pp.286-291
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• 1998

SAR has provided weather independent images on land and sea surface, which can be used for extracting various useful informations. Recently attempts to estimate wind field parameters from SAR images over the oceans have been made by various groups over the world. Although scatterometer loaded in ERS-1 and ERS-2 observes the global wind vector field at spatial resolution of 50 Km with accuracies of $\pm$2m/s in speed, the spatial resolution may not be good enough for applications in coastal regions. It is weil known the sea surface roughness is closely correlated to the wind field, but the wind retrieval algorithms from SAR images are yet in developing stage. Since the radar backscattering properties of the SAR images are principally the same as that of scatterometer, some previous studies conducted by other groups report the success in mesoscale coastal wind field retrievals using ERS SAR images. We have tested SWA (SAR Wind Algorithm) and CMOD4 model for estimation of wind speed using an ERS-1 SAR image acquired near Cheju Island, Korea, in October 11, 1994. The precise estimation of sigma nought and the direction of wind are required for applying the CMOD4 model to estimate wind speed. The wind speed in the test sub-image is estimated to be about 10.5m/s, which relatively well agrees to the observed wind speed about 9.0m/s at Seoguipo station. The wind speed estimation through the SWA is slightly higher than that of CMOD4 model. The sea surface condition may be favorable to SWA on the specific date. Since the CMOD4 model requires either wind direction or wind speed to retrieve the wind field, we should estimate the wind speed first using other algorithm including SWA. So far, it is not conclusive if the SWA can be used to provide input wind speed data for CMOD4 model or not. Since it is only initial stage of implementing the wind field retrieval algorithms and no in-situ observed data is currently avaliable, we are not able to evaluate the accuracy of the results at the moment. Therefore verification studies should be followed in the future to extract reliable wind field information in the coastal region using ERS SAR images.