Numerical simulations of downburst wind fields: A comparative analysis of stationary and moving storms using the impinging jet model

Abstract

Downburst is a hazardous strong wind commonly encountered in thunderstorm weather. Influenced by ambient wind, the downdraft often accompanies horizontal movement while descending. Based on the impinging jet model, this study employs the large eddy simulation method to conduct computational fluid dynamics numerical simulations of stationary and moving downbursts. The evolution process, time-varying wind speed, and wind profile characteristics of the two types of wind fields are compared. This study also discusses the influence of η—which represents the ratio of the storm traveling speed (Vtr) to the jet velocity (Vjet)—on the wind field structure and verifies the applicability of the vector superposition principle in the simulation of the moving downburst. The results show the following: The wind speed and direction time histories obtained from the numerical simulation of moving downbursts have good consistency with the actual wind field records. The movement of the storm causes the near-surface wind field to lose its central symmetry, resulting in a bow-shaped distribution of extreme wind speeds at the storm's leading edge. As η increases, the non-central symmetry of the wind field becomes more pronounced, the maximum horizontal wind speed at the storm's leading edge gradually moves closer to the storm's center, peak wind speeds gradually increase, and the wind speed distribution at the storm's trailing edge shows the opposite trend. The vector superposition principle is not entirely applicable in the simplified analysis of moving downburst, causing significant errors when η is larger than 0.1.