Application of CFD and mass-consistent models for operational wind forecasting

In the context of the San Paolo project "Wind monitoring, simulation and forecasting for the smart management and safety of port, urban and territorial system", a computational grid of Livorno City (Italy) and its surroundings at full scale has been constructed for 3D steady-state RANS simulations to be performed by the open-source code OpenFOAM. Field measurements in the same urban area have been scheduled between December 2017 and March 2018 in order to cover the entire winter season, i.e. the windiest one. The CFD results, obtained by initialising the CFD simulations with wind profiles measured through a LiDAR installed in the Port of Livorno, have been validated by means of two ultrasonic three-axial anemometers installed along a narrow canal which is located in the old city centre, about 1.5 km south-westward of the port area.