Impact Assessment of Adverse Turbulence due to Landscape changes close to Airports. Mathematical and Software Tools for Terrain Modification and Impact Assessment

Abstract

In places dominated by irregular terrain, significant topographical modifications are often required to develop new or improve the existing infrastructure like roads, buildings, airport terminals and harbours. If the modifications are proposed close to an airport then it directly impacts flight safety. Impact assessment then attains significance. Here, we describe a numerical algorithm for the excavation of an arbitrary polygonal domain within an area with a given topographic description. Thepotential of the algorithm and its numerical implementation is demonstrated by applying it to an artificial wavy terrain and then to a couple of Norwegian airports. The potential of assessing modified flying conditions close to the ground is also presented. Although the present study is mainly focused on terrain-induced atmospheric turbulence close to airports, the outcome of the present work can also be utillized for other purposes, like building-induced turbulence simulations. Oppdragsgiver: Avinor AS