Superstructure Flow Distortion Corrections for Wind Speed and Direction Measurements made from NIMITZ Class (CVN68-CVN73) Ships

Abstract

The available literature describing the errors in wind measurements produced by the flow distribution around ships, masts, and towers is briefly reviewed. It is demonstrated that the wind speed and direction measurements made from the three standard anemometer locations on board a Nimitz class ship are distorted by the wind blockage produced by the ship's superstructure, mast, and antennas. Even though the wind measurements are made near the top of two masts, the wind speed error was found to be as large as 19% and the wind direction error as large as 6 deg. A correction scheme for determining the true wind speed and direction is presented. Keywords: Air flow; Ship masts; Ship antennas; Nuclear powered ships; Aircraft carriers; Boundary layer flow; Ship models; Wind tunnel tests; Ship-induced errors of meteorological measurements; Correction of shipboard wind speed and direction measurements; Boundary-layer ship model wind tunnel tests; Errors in bulk method determined fluxes; Air-sea interaction.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 19, 1989
Accession Number
ADA214270

Entities

People

  • Reginald E. Larson
  • Theodore V. Blanc

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircraft Carriers
  • Anemometers
  • Atmospheric Motion
  • Boundary Layer
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Flight Decks
  • Measurement
  • Nimitz-Class
  • Ships
  • Standards
  • Superstructures
  • Surface Roughness
  • Wind
  • Wind Direction
  • Wind Tunnel Tests
  • Wind Tunnels
  • Wind Velocity

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.