Speaker
Description
Traditionally, the approach adopted in wind engineering has been to take a model which represents the wind (often expressed through a series of equations based on physical measurements) and apply that model to a structure or structural element. This has enabled safe, efficient and reliable structural design to take place. In most cases, this has been restricted to stationary winds, despite the vast majority of winds possessing an element of non-stationarity. In this paper we adopt a different approach and focus on the structural failure of natural, flexible dynamic structures (i.e., crops) and use it to inform our knowledge of the wind. It is shown that this approach potentially enables an interesting insight on two specific types of non-synoptic winds, i.e., tornadoes and downbursts. Confidence is expressed in using the developed framework to understanding the scale and translation of tornadoes, whilst more work is required with respect to downbursts.
| Keywords | Tornadoes, Downbursts, non-synoptic winds |
|---|---|
| Topics | Environmental engineering |
