Numerical Prediction of Strong Wind Induced by Topographic Effect

Abstract

This paper describes the numerical study of nonstratified airflow over a real complex terrain. Attention is focused on the mechanism of a local strong wind induced by a topographic effect. In order to clarify the mechanism of the occurrence of strong winds accompanied by the effects of terrain, the use of a numerical simulation is very effective, in which conditions can be set without the influence of ground roughness and temperature distribution. As a result, airflow converged to a small basin of mountain terrain in the upper stream, and local strong wind was generated leeward along the slope of the mountain terrain. Furthermore, the influence of the reproduction accuracy of geographical features, that is, horizontal grid resolution, was examined. Consequently, to reproduce the above-mentioned local strong wind, it was shown that horizontal grid resolution from 50 m to about 100 m was necessary.