• 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.26 no.3
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• pp.179-190
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• 2018

Translation of tornadoes is an important feature in replicating the near-ground tornado flow field which has been simulated in previous studies based on Ward-type tornado simulators using relative motion of the ground plane. In this laboratory investigation, effects of translation on the near-ground tornado flow field were studied using the ISU Tornado Simulator that can physically translate over a ground plane. Two translation speeds, 0.15 m/s and 0.50 m/s, that scale up to those corresponding to slowly-moving tornadoes in the field were selected for this study. Compared with the flow field of a stationary tornado, the simulated tornado with translation had an influence on the spatial distribution and magnitude of the horizontal velocities, early reversal of the radial inflow, and expansion of the core radius. Maximum horizontal velocities were observed to occur behind the center of the translating tornado and on the right side of its mean path. An increase in translation speed, resulted in reduction of maximum horizontal velocities at all heights. Comparison of the results with previous studies that used relative motion of the ground plane for simulating translating tornadoes, showed that translation has similar effects on the flow field at smaller radial distances (~2 core radius), but different effects at larger radial distances (~4 core radius). Further, it showed that the effect of translation on velocity profiles is noticeable at and above an elevation of ~0.6 core radius, unlike those in studies based on the relative motion of the ground plane.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.111-121
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• 2018

Experiments were conducted in a large-scale Ward-type tornado simulator to study tornado-like vortices. Both flow velocities and the pressures at the surface beneath the vortices were measured. An interpretation of these measurements enabled an assessment of the mean flow field as well as the mean and fluctuating characteristics of the surface pressure deficit, which is a manifestation of the flow fluctuation aloft. An emphasis was placed on the effect of the aspect ratio of the tornado simulator on the characteristics of the simulated flow and the corresponding surface pressure deficit, especially the evolution of these characteristics due to the transition of the flow from a single-celled vortex to a two-celled vortex with increasing swirl ratio.