Analysis of tornado and near-ground turbulence using a hybrid meteorological model/engineering LES method

Abstract

A new hybrid meteorological model/engineering LES method was used to analyze a tornado and near-ground turbulence under realistic conditions. The hybrid method estimates high frequency turbulence regeneration in an actual severe storm that has complex thermal conditions in order to alleviate the problem of high frequency component dissipation in meteorological models and generate appropriate field data to investigate near-ground flow and wind loading on buildings. The high frequency regeneration method was validated in the convective boundary layer and the energy spectrum of the velocity field was successfully extended to higher frequency region in good agreement with −5/3 Kolmogorov law.Multi-scale simulations of a tornado were conducted based on meteorological model outputs with three different terrain conditions, including an actual urban building geometry and terrain, and the changes in the main tornado vortex and the interactions with near-ground turbulent field were examined. On roughened surfaces with uniform blocks and buildings, the main tornado vortex was connected to near-ground vertical vortices arising due to the urban geometry. The structure was significantly deformed, splitting into numerous finer vortices below several times the building height. These near-ground vortices create localized sharp pressure drop patterns and also affect the movement of the tornado. These effects of low pressure on buildings were quantitatively analyzed.