Experimental Study of Downburst Wind Flow over a Typical Three-Dimensional Hill

Abstract

To achieve a comprehensive understanding of a three-dimensional (3D) wind field and the speed-up phenomenon in a downburst wind flow over a 3D hilly terrain, a succession of laboratory tests utilizing 12 hill models with cosine-squared cross-section was conducted using a physical downburst simulator with a jet diameter of 0.6 m. By placing the models in the strong horizontal wind region and the strong vertical wind region, the corresponding wind profiles for both the horizontal and vertical velocities were measured. It was found that the wind flowed predominantly over the crest of the hill in the case of low hills, whereas wind flow around the hill body became increasingly pronounced as the hill height increased. In addition, the speed-up region, where the horizontal wind velocity exceeds the impinging jet velocity, was identified, and found to move from the crest to the two sides of the hill as the hill height increased. Accordingly, the most significant topographic multipliers of all locations on the hill might appear at the crest, the hill foot, or elsewhere, depending largely on the hill height. Among all cases, the maximum topographic multiplier was 1.12, and occurred at the ridge, while the ratio of hill height to jet height was 5/12. Additionally, empirical equations are presented to facilitate the determination of wind loads induced by a downburst flow over an isolated hill.

Keywords

• downburst
• hilly terrain
• wind-tunnel test
• three-dimensional wind field
• topographic multiplier