• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.37-55
• /
• 2010

In this paper South Africa is divided into strong wind climate zones, which indicate the main sources of annual maximum wind gusts. By the analysis of wind gust data of 94 weather stations, which had continuous climate time series of 10 years or longer, six sources, or strong-wind producing mechanisms, could be identified and zoned accordingly. The two primary causes of strong wind gusts are thunderstorm activity and extratropical low pressure systems, which are associated with the passage of cold fronts over the southern African subcontinent. Over the eastern and central interior of South Africa annual maximum wind gusts are usually caused by thunderstorm gust fronts during summer, while in the western and southern interior extratropical cyclones play the most dominant role. Along the coast and adjacent interior annual extreme gusts are usually caused by extratropical cyclones. Four secondary sources of strong winds are the ridging of the quasi-stationary Atlantic and Indian Ocean high pressure systems over the subcontinent, surface troughs to the west in the interior with strong ridging from the east, convergence from the interior towards isolated low pressure systems or deep coastal low pressure systems, and deep surface troughs on the West Coast.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.6-14
• /
• 2005

The mechanism of ballast-flying phenomena by strong wind induced by high-speed trains has extensively been investigated by conducting wind tunnel test and field-measuring of wind velocity in the vicinity of the track. The ballast gathered from the Seoul-Busan high-speed railway track has been classified by mass and shape to find relationship between those properties and the characteristic of movement in high wind and 16-channel Kiel-probe array has been used to examine the detailed flow structure above the surface of the track. The probability of ballast-flying during the passage of the high-speed train has been assessed comparing the results from wind tunnel test and that from field-measuring. The results shows that when the G7 train runs well as the KTX train runs at 300km/h, about 25m/s wind gust is induced just above the tie and the probability far small ballast under 50g to fly is about 50％ when it is on the tie. If the G7 train runs at 350km/h, the wind gust just above the tie increases to 30m/s, therefore radical countermeasure seems to be needed.

• International Journal of Railway
• /
• v.1 no.3
• /
• pp.99-105
• /
• 2008

Flow around an ICE2 high-speed train exiting a tunnel under the influence of a wind gust has been studied using numerical technique called detached eddy simulation. A wind gust boundary condition was derived to approximate previous experimental observations. The body of the train includes most important details including bogies, plugs, inter-car gaps and rotating wheels on the rail. The maximal yawing and rolling moments which possibly can cause a derailment or overturning were found to occur when approximately one third and one half of the train, respectively, has left the tunnel. These are explained by development of a strong vortex trailing along the upper leeward edge of the train. All aerodynamic forces and moments were monitored during the simulation and the underlying flow structures and mechanisms are explained.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.1-15
• /
• 2012

High-resolution wind data were acquired from a 100-m high offshore tower during the passage of Typhoon Hagupit in September, 2008. The meteorological tower was equipped with an ultrasonic anemometer and a number of cup anemometers at heights between 10 and 100 m. Wind characteristics of the strong typhoon, such as mean wind speed and wind direction, turbulence intensity, turbulence integral length scale, gust factor and power spectra of wind velocity, vertical profiles of mean wind speed were investigated in detail based on the wind data recorded during the strong typhoon. The measured results revealed that the wind characteristics in different stages during the typhoon varied remarkably. Through comparison with non-typhoon wind measurements, the phenomena of enhanced levels of turbulence intensity, gust factors, turbulence integral length scale and spectral magnitudes in typhoon boundary layer were observed. The monitored data and analysis results are expected to be useful for the wind-resistant design of offshore structures and buildings on seashores in typhoon-prone regions.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2007.04a
• /
• pp.739-744
• /
• 2007

Wind loads for cladding can be estimated using the maximum wind pressure including gust effects from wind-tunnel tests. However, when estimating the maximum wind pressure with gust effects, wind pressure coefficients for cladding would be different according to the averaging time of wind pressures, In the paper, for wind pressures obtained from wind-tunnel tests for apartment buildings, whose window panes were damaged by actual strong wind, it was investigated how pressure coefficients varied according to the size of cladding and averaging time using TVL method of Lawson. In result, it was found that the lesser the size of cladding and averaging time were, the larger pressure coefficients became. Accordingly, to estimate wind loads for cladding of apartment buildings and design it, the averaging time of wind pressures should be considered properly.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.369-373
• /
• 2005

To investigate the mechanism of ballast-flying phenomena by strong wind induced by high-speed trains, wind velocity in the vicinity of the track has been measured using 16-channel Kiel-probe array and detailed flow structure near the surface of the track has been analyzed. The position at which the underflow fully develop has been examined in order to assess the driving force of the turbulent flow under train and the results yields that the turbulent flow owing to the cavity of the inter-car as well as the friction force at the underbody of the train is the main reason of the strong wind under high-speed train. The preceding wind tunnel test results has been introduced to assess the probability of ballast-flying during the passage of the high-speed train by comparing the results from field-measuring. The results shows that when the G7 train as well as the KTX train runs at 300km/h, about 25m/s wind gust is induced just above the tie and the probability for small ballast under 50g to fly is about 50% when it is on the tie. If the G7 train runs at 350km/h, the wind gust just above the tie increases to 30m/s, therefore more radical countermeasure seems to be needed.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.89-111
• /
• 2014

The dynamics of a tornado-like vortex with touching down is investigated by using the LES turbulence model. The detailed information of the turbulent flow fields is provided and the force balances in radial and vertical directions are evaluated by using the time-averaged axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations. The turbulence has slightly influence on the mean flow fields in the radial direction whereas it shows strong impacts in the vertical direction. In addition, the instantaneous flow fields are investigated to clarify and understand the dynamics of the vortex. An organized swirl motion is observed, which is the main source of the turbulence for the radial and tangential components, but not for the vertical component. Power spectrum analysis is conducted to quantify the organized swirl motion of the tornado-like vortex. The gust speeds are also examined and it is found to be very large near the center of vortex.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
• /
• 2005.11a
• /
• pp.1241-1247
• /
• 2005

The ballast-flying, induced by strong underbody train gust, may damage train underbody, wheel and even cause the safety problems. For this reason, a heighter is being used to prevent the ballast-flying phenomenon through underbody now reduction. In this research, flow field around a heighter is numerically simulated. And the parametric study of various heighter shapes is performed to find out more effective heighter shape. Also the ballast-flying probabilities are calculated for various ballast types and train speeds.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.223-246
• /
• 2023

This paper summarized the research papers on weather extremes that occurred in the Republic of Korea, which were published in the domestic and foreign journals during 1963~2022. Weather extreme is defined as a weather phenomenon that causes serious casualty and property loss; here, it includes typhoon, heavy rain, drought, heat wave, cold surge, heavy snow, and strong gust. Based on the 2011~2020 statistics in Korea, above 80% of property loss due to all natural disasters were caused by typhoons and heavy rainfalls. However, the impact of the other weather extremes can be underestimated rather than we have actually experienced; the property loss caused by the other extremes is hard to be quantitatively counted. Particularly, as global warming becomes serious, the influence of drought and heat wave has been increasing. The damages caused by cold surges, heavy snow, and strong gust occurred over relatively local areas on short-term time scales compared to other weather hazards. In particularly, strong gust accompanied with drought may result in severe forest fires over mountainous regions. We hope that the present review paper may remind us of the importance of weather extremes that directly affect our lives.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.45-54
• /
• 2009

Despite vehicle instability problems caused by gusts of wind on freeways located in mountain or seaside areas, current national highway design standards overlook their detrimental effects, and if higher design speed freeways being proposed now by the government are in operation, the strong effect of the gust of wind becomes a highway alignment design issue. This paper presents the vehicle movements and their resulting safety effects by checking vehicle sliding and overturn based on vehicle dynamic analysis for the case when a gust of wind blows to vehicles negotiating curves on higher speed freeways. In this analysis, vehicle types, curve radii, motorist responsive time to vehicle driving path changes, and vehicle speeds are systematically arranged to get vehicle sliding and overturn values in each different conditions. The results showed that there were little overturn possibilities when wind speed would stay in 50m/sec with higher than 600 meter curve radii. Interestingly it was also found in sliding checks that, although being safe at less than 15.0m/sec wind speed levels, there appeared the need of vehicle travel prohibitions when the wind speed could exceed 25.0m/sec level. The findings in this research is of information in future higher speed freeway designs, and particularly useful when designing freeways passing frequent gust wind areas.