• 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.12 no.1
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• pp.77-88
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• 2009

A pulsed impinging jet is used to simulate the gust front of a thunderstorm downburst. This work concentrates on investigating the peak transient loading conditions on a 30 mm cubic model submerged in the simulated downburst flow. The outflow induced pressures are recorded and compared to those from boundary layer and steady wall jet flow. Given that peak winds associated with downburst events are often located in the transient frontal region, the importance of using a non-stationary modelling technique for assessing peak downburst wind loads is highlighted with comparisons.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.295-320
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• 2014

Starting from an overview on the research on thunderstorms in the last forty years, this paper provides a general discussion on some emerging issues and new frameworks for wind loading on structures in mixed climates. Omitting for sake of simplicity tropical cyclones and tornadoes, three main aspects are pointed out. The first concerns the separation and classification of different intense wind events into extra-tropical depressions, thunderstorms and gust fronts, with the aim of improving the interpretation of the phenomena of engineering interest, the probabilistic analysis of the maximum wind velocity, the determination of the wind-induced response and the safety format for structures. The second deals with the use of the response spectrum technique, not only as a potentially efficient tool for calculating the structural response to thunderstorms, but also as a mean for revisiting the whole wind-excited response in a more general and comprehensive framework. The third involves the statistical analysis of extreme wind velocities in mixed climates, pointing out some shortcomings of the approaches currently used for evaluating wind loading on structures and depicting a new scenario for a more rational scheme aiming to pursue structural safety. The paper is set in the spirit of mostly simplified analyses and mainly qualitative remarks, in order to capture the conceptual aspects of the problems dealt with and put on the table ideas open to discussion and further developments.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.117-144
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• 2019

High Altitude and Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft are capable of providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities over vast geographic areas when equipped with advanced sensor packages. As their use becomes more widespread, the demand for additional range, endurance and payload capability will increase and designers are exploring non-conventional configurations to meet the increasing demands. One such configuration is the joined-wing concept. A joined-wing aircraft is one that typically connects a front and aft wings in a diamond shaped planform. One such example is the Boeing SensorCraft configuration. While the joined-wing configuration offers potential benefits regarding aerodynamic efficiency, structural weight, and sensing capabilities, structural design requires careful consideration of elastic buckling resulting from the aft wing supporting, in compression, part of the forward wing structural loading. It has been shown already that this is a nonlinear phenomenon, involving geometric nonlinearities and follower forces that tend to flatten the entire configuration, leading to structural overload due to the loss of the aft wing's ability to support the forward wing load. Severe gusts are likely to be the critical design condition, with flight control system interaction in the form of Gust Load Alleviation (GLA) playing a key role in minimizing the structural loads. The University of Victoria Center for Aerospace Research (UVic-CfAR) has built a 3-meter span scaled and flexible wing UAV based on the Boeing SensorCraft design. The goal is to validate the nonlinear structural behavior in flight. The main objective of this research work is to perform Ground Vibration Tests (GVT) to characterize the dynamic properties of the scaled flight vehicle. Results from the experimental tests are used to characterize the modal dynamics of the aircraft, and to validate the numerical models. The GVT results are an important step towards a safe flight test program.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.857-870
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• 2007

The structure and evolution of a thunderstorm outflow in two dimensions with no environmental wind are investigated using a cloud-resolving model with explicit liquid-ice phase microphysical processes (ARPS: Advanced Regional Prediction System). The turbulence structure of the outflow is explicitly resolved with a high-resolution grid size of 50m. The simulated single-cell storm and its associated Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) billows are found to have the lift stages of development maturity, and decay. The secondary pulsation and splitting of convective cells resulted from interactions between cloud dynamics and microphysics are observed. The cooled downdrafts caused by the evaporation of rain and hail in the relatively dry lower atmosphere result in thunderstorm cold-air outflow. The outflow head propagates with almost constant speed. The KH billows formed by the KH instability cause turbulence mixing from the top of the outflow and control the structure of the outflow. Ihe KH billows are initiated at the outflow head, and pow and decay as moving rearward relative to the gust front. The numerical simulation results of the ratio of the horizontal wavelength of the fastest growing perturbation to the critical shear-layer depth and the ratio of the horizontal wavelength of the billow to its maximum amplitude are matched well with the results of other studies.