2010 Volume 4 Pages 40-44
The strong wind field caused by Typhoon Songda, which passed through Kyushu in Japan in 2004, was simulated numerically. A non-hydrostatic mesoscale model was used for the numerical simulation. The simulated wind field was compared with the observed wind field in terms of wind speeds and directions, which were measured by the wind observation network, NeWMeK. It was found that the temporal variation of the calculated wind speeds at 1 km hori-zontal mesh grids correspond to the average of the observed wind speeds over a ten to fifteen minute time period. The temporal variation of the calculated wind directions showed good agreement with the observations. The maximum values of the calculated wind speeds were highly correlated to the maximum values of the observed wind speeds. The applicability of the mesoscale model for the wind hazard assessment of buildings was examined, and it was found that the maximum values of the calculated wind speeds at higher altitudes showed higher correlations with the rates of damaged houses caused by Typhoon Songda.