Prediction of maximum instantaneous wind speed based on steady flow using computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

Overturning accidents of cars caused by strong crosswind have still occurred in Japan. Instantaneous strong crosswind has a heavy influence on overturning of running cars. Therefore, it is necessary to provide safe road transportation by predicting maximum instantaneous wind speed and giving warnings to drivers in advance. In this paper, the authors predicted maximum instantaneous wind speed using a peak factor obtained by observed data and a relation between mean wind speed and standard deviation on the basis of steady flow by computational fluid dynamics. As a result, maximum instantaneous wind speed predicted by computational fluid dynamics showed good agreement with observed data in a high wind speed range which has direct effects on the stability of running cars. The result shows that it is possible to make a simple prediction of maximum instantaneous wind speed using steady flow by computational fluid dynamics.