Airport terrain-induced turbulence simulations integrated with weather prediction data

The wind environment at an airport is affected by terrain features. In Japan, Shonai Airport is known to frequently have wind shear over the runway due to the turbulence induced by the neighboring hills in winter. In this study, large eddy simulation (LES) is performed to investigate the turbulence around Shonai Airport. The initial and boundary conditions are given according to the weather prediction data by the Japan Meteorological Agency non-hydrostatic model (JMANHM). These data are downscaled and transferred to LES domains, which consider actual terrain features as the boundary conditions on the ground, using the two-way nesting method. The present simulations indicate that terrain features may have a significant influence on the turbulence appearing in flight paths; i.e., aircraft safety may depend on wind direction. In addition, it is shown that the present simulation method can predict the turbulence induced by terrain features based on good agreement of results with the turbulence actually observed using a Doppler radar.