• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.231-244
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• 2024

As wind farms expand into low wind speed areas, an increasing number are being established in mountainous regions. To fully utilize wind energy resources, it is essential to understand the details of mountain flow fields. Reconstructing the wind speed field in complex terrain is crucial for planning, designing, operation of wind farms, which impacts the wind farm's profits throughout its life cycle. Currently, wind speed reconstruction is primarily achieved through physical and machine learning methods. However, physical methods often require significant computational costs. Therefore, we propose a Full Convolutional Neural Network (FCNN)-based reconstruction method for mountain wind velocity fields to evaluate wind resources more accurately and efficiently. This method establishes the mapping relation between terrain, wind angle, height, and corresponding velocity fields of three velocity components within a specific terrain range. Guided by this mapping relation, wind velocity fields of three components at different terrains, wind angles, and heights can be generated. The effectiveness of this method was demonstrated by reconstructing the wind speed field of complex terrain in Beijing.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.171-184
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• 2017

The present study provides a deeper understanding of the flow fields of a full-scale railway wind barriers by means of a wind tunnel test. First, the drag forces of the three wind barriers were measured using a force sensor, and the drag force coefficients were compared with a similar scale model. On this basis, the mean wind velocity and turbulence upwind and downwind of the wind barriers were measured. The effects of pore size and opening forms of the wind barrier were discussed. The results show that the test of the scaled wind barrier model may be unsafe, and it is suitable to adopt the full-scale wind barrier model. The pore size and the opening forms of wind barriers have a slight influence on the flow fields upwind of the wind barrier but have some influences on the flow fields and power spectra downwind of the wind barrier. The smaller pore size generates a lower turbulence density and value of the power spectrum near the wind barrier, and the porous wind barriers clearly provide better shelter than the bar-type wind barriers.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.433-455
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• 2013

A phase delay spectrum model towards the representation of spatial coherence of stochastic wind fields is proposed. Different from the classical coherence functions used in the spectral representation methods, the model is derived from the comprehensive description of coherence of fluctuating wind speeds and from the thorough analysis of physical accounts of random factors affecting phase delay, building up a consistent mapping between the simulated fluctuating wind speeds and the basic random variables. It thus includes complete probabilistic information of spatial stochastic wind fields. This treatment prompts a ready and succinct scheme for the simulation of fluctuating wind speeds, and provides a new perspective to the accurate assessment of dynamic reliability of wind-induced structures. Numerical investigations and comparative studies indicate that the developed model is of rationality and of applicability which matches well with the measured data at spatial points of wind fields, whereby the phase spectra at defined datum mark and objective point are feasibly obtained using the numerical scheme associated with the starting-time of phase evolution. In conjunction with the stochastic Fourier amplitude spectrum that we developed previously, the time history of fluctuating wind speeds at any spatial points of wind fields can be readily simulated.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.555-571
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• 2016

A hanging-type sand-retaining wall is a very common sand-blocking fence structure used to prevent sand movement. This type of wall is widely used along the Qinghai-Tibet and Gobi desert railways in Xinjiang, Western China. To analyze the characteristics of wind-sand flow fields under the effect of such a sand fence structure, a wind tunnel test and a field test were carried out. The wind tunnel test showed the zoning characteristics of the flow fields under the effect of the hanging-type sand-retaining wall, and the field test provided the sediment transport data for effective wind-proof interval and the sand resistance data in the front and behind the sand-retaining wall. The consistency of the wind-sand flow fields with the spatial distribution characteristic of wind-carried sand motion was verified by the correspondences of the acceleration zone in the flow field and the negative elevation points of the percentage variations of the sand collection rate. The spatial distribution characteristic of the field sand collection data further showed the spatial structural characteristic of the sandy air currents under the action of the hanging-type sand-retaining wall and the sand resistance characteristic of the sand-retaining wall. This systematic study on the wind-sand flow fields under the control of the hanging-type sand-retaining wall provides a theoretical basis for the rational layout of sand control engineering systems and the efficient utilization of a hanging-type sand-retaining wall.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.1127-1137
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• 2007

We focused on effects on data assimilation of simulated wind fields by using upper-air observations (wind profiler and sonde data). Local Analysis Prediction System (LAPS), a type of data assimilation system, was used for wind field modeling. Five cases of simulation experiments for sensitivity analysis were performed: which are EXP0) non data assimilation, EXP1) surface data, EXP2) surface data and sonde data, EXP3) surface data and wind profiler data, EXP4) surface data, sonde data and wind profiler data. These were compared with observation data. The result showed that the effects of data assimilation with wind profiler data were found to be greater than sonde data. The delicate wind fields in complex coastal area were simulated well in EXP3. EXP3 and EXP4 using wind profiler data with vertically high resolution represented well sophisticated differences of wind speed compared with EXP1 and EXP2, this is because the effects of wind profiler data assimilation were sensitively adjusted to first guess field than those of sonde observations.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.413-423
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• 2023

Wind turbines are usually steel hollow structures that can be vulnerable to dramatic failures due to high-intensity wind (HIW) events, which are classified as a category of localized windstorms that includes tornadoes and downbursts. Analyzing Wind Turbines (WT) under tornadoes is a challenging-to-achieve task because tornadoes are much more complicated wind fields compared with the synoptic boundary layer wind fields, considering that the tornado's 3-D velocity components vary largely in space. As a result, the supporting tower of the wind turbine and the blades will experience different velocities depending on the location of the event. Wind farms also extend over a large area so that the probability of a localized windstorm event impacting one or more towers is relatively high. Therefore, the built-in-house numerical code "HIW-WT" has been developed to predict the straining actions on the blades considering the variability of the tornado's location and the blades' pitch angle. The developed HIWWT numerical model incorporates different wind fields that were generated from developed CFD models. The developed numerical model was applied on an actual wind turbine under three different tornadoes that have different tornadic structure. It is found that F2 tornado wind fields present significant hazard for the wind turbine blades and have to be taken into account if the hazardous impact of this type of unexpected load is to be avoided.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2013

The typhoon wind characteristics designing for buildings or bridges located in complex terrain and typhoon prone region normally cannot be achieved by the very often few field measurement data, or by physical simulation in wind tunnel. This study proposes a numerical simulation procedure for predicting directional typhoon design wind speeds and profiles for sites over complex terrain by integrating typhoon wind field model, Monte Carlo simulation technique, CFD simulation and artificial neural networks (ANN). The site of Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong is chosen as a case study to examine the feasibility of the proposed numerical simulation procedure. Directional typhoon wind fields on the upstream of complex terrain are first generated by using typhoon wind field model together with Monte Carlo simulation method. Then, ANN for predicting directional typhoon wind field at the site are trained using representative directional typhoon wind fields for upstream and these at the site obtained from CFD simulation. Finally, based on the trained ANN model, thousands of directional typhoon wind fields for the site can be generated, and the directional design wind speeds by using extreme wind speed analysis and the directional averaged mean wind profiles can be produced for the site. The case study demonstrated that the proposed procedure is feasible and applicable, and that the effects of complex terrain on design typhoon wind speeds and wind profiles are significant.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.113-130
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• 1996

Diurnal variations of air quality for each season over Taeau city were analyzed using the characteristic features of the various synoptic wind fields. The air quality data which were monitored by four stations are the hourly averaged sulfur dioxide($SO_2$), total suspended particulate(TSP) and oxidants ($O_3$) during the period of 1989 to 1992. The various synoptic wind fields obtained from the 850 hPa geopotential height were divided in to four geostrophic wind directions and two geostrophic wind speeds for each seasons. The synoptic weather conditions were again subdivided info two categories using the lotal cloud amounts, The results shows that diurnal and seasonal variations of the air quality over Taegu city, such as sulfur dioxide, total suspended particulate and oxidants reseal the various characteristics under the same synoptic weather conditions.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.179-189
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• 2023

Multiple studies conducted in the past evaluated the conductor response under one tornado wind field, while the performance of transmission lines under different tornado wind fields still remains unknown. Thus, the objective of this paper is to estimate the variation in the conductor's critical longitudinal and transverse reactions under different tornado wind fields, as well as providing the corresponding critical tornado configurations. The considered full-scale tornadoes are the Spencer, South Dakota, 1998, the Stockton, Kansas, 2005 and the Goshen County, Wyoming, 2009. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were previously conducted to develop these wind fields. All tornadoes have been rescaled to have a common velocity matching the upper limit of the F2 Fujita scale. Eight conductor systems, each including six spans, are considered in this paper. For each conductor, parametric studies are conducted by varying the location of the three tornado wind fields relative to the tower of interest, therefore the peak reactions associated with each tornado are determined. A semi-analytical closed-form solution, previously developed and validated, is used to calculate the reactions. The study conducted in this paper can be divided into two parts: In the first part, a parametric study considering a wide range of tornado locations is conducted. In the second part, the parametric study focuses on the tornado location leading to the critical tangential velocity on the tower. Based on this extensive parametric study, a critical tornado defined as the Design Tornado and its critical locations, tornado distance R = 125 m, tornado angle 𝜃 = 15° and 30°, are recommended for design purposes.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.245-259
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• 2024

In a tornadic wind field, the vertical velocity component in certain regions of tornadoes can be significant, forming one of the major differences between tornadic wind fields and synoptic straight-line wind fields. To better understand the wind characteristics of tornadoes and properly estimate the action of tornadoes on civil structures, it is important to ensure that all the attributes of tornadoes are captured. Although Doppler radars have been used to measure tornadic wind fields, they can only directly provide information on quasi-horizontal velocity. Therefore, lots of numerical simulations and experimental tests in previous research ignored the vertical velocity at the boundary. However, the influence of vertical velocity in tornadic wind fields is not evaluated. To address this research gap, this study is to use an approach to derive the vertical velocity component based on the horizontal velocities extracted from the radar-measured data by mass continuity. This approach will be illustrated by using the radar-measured data of Spencer Tornado as an example. The vertical velocity component is included in the initial inflow condition in the CFD simulation to assess the influence of including vertical velocity in the initial inflow condition on the entire tornadic wind field.