Coastal areas and seaport areas are the most densely settled in the world. Estimates indicate that approximately three billion people – about half of world’s population – live within 200 km from a coastal line and by 2025 this number is likely to double. Since decades seaport areas have been increasing in order to host larger and larger cruise ships and container ships. Besides the positive impact on the global economy, the increasing ship size can also cause larger wind forces, which makes the navigation through these areas even more difficult especially on windy days. Among the meteorological events, the wind is the most destructive natural phenomenon and most frequently the prime cause of accidents occurred in seaport areas. These areas are particularly exposed to strong winds since they are generally characterized by sudden and strong changes of surface roughness. Here, accidents caused by storm winds do not only imply considerable economic losses but also high risks for the workers. Therefore, the characterization of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) winds is of primary importance towards the safety management of seaports and waterways. Despite the great strides of Wind and Maritime Engineering communities, the prediction of local-scale wind conditions in such complex environments is still challenging. In this paper on-site measurements and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are used to characterize the wind field at the commercial terminal of the Port of Rotterdam (The Netherlands), for two representative configurations: (i) without container piles and cranes, (ii) with container piles and cranes. The simulated data are firstly validated with measured data; therefore vertical wind speed profiles from CFD simulations (throughout the whole terminal) are fitted to different logarithmic-law functions in order to characterize the wind flow. The standard logarithmic law is found to hold at about 50% only of the monitored positions.
Characterization of wind in seaports and waterways through field measurements and CFD simulations
Alessio Ricci
;
2022-01-01
Abstract
Coastal areas and seaport areas are the most densely settled in the world. Estimates indicate that approximately three billion people – about half of world’s population – live within 200 km from a coastal line and by 2025 this number is likely to double. Since decades seaport areas have been increasing in order to host larger and larger cruise ships and container ships. Besides the positive impact on the global economy, the increasing ship size can also cause larger wind forces, which makes the navigation through these areas even more difficult especially on windy days. Among the meteorological events, the wind is the most destructive natural phenomenon and most frequently the prime cause of accidents occurred in seaport areas. These areas are particularly exposed to strong winds since they are generally characterized by sudden and strong changes of surface roughness. Here, accidents caused by storm winds do not only imply considerable economic losses but also high risks for the workers. Therefore, the characterization of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) winds is of primary importance towards the safety management of seaports and waterways. Despite the great strides of Wind and Maritime Engineering communities, the prediction of local-scale wind conditions in such complex environments is still challenging. In this paper on-site measurements and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are used to characterize the wind field at the commercial terminal of the Port of Rotterdam (The Netherlands), for two representative configurations: (i) without container piles and cranes, (ii) with container piles and cranes. The simulated data are firstly validated with measured data; therefore vertical wind speed profiles from CFD simulations (throughout the whole terminal) are fitted to different logarithmic-law functions in order to characterize the wind flow. The standard logarithmic law is found to hold at about 50% only of the monitored positions.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
