Atmospheric Turbulence Encountered by High-Speed Ground Transport Vehicles

Abstract

The structure of atmospheric turbulence near the ground is reviewed and the statistical properties of the longitudinal, lateral and vertical velocity components of the wind presented. The statistical properties of the turbulence encountered by a high-speed ground transport vehicle travelling through a turbulent wind field of arbitrary orientation are derived. Next, the statistical properties of the atmospheric forces acting on the vehicle are determined and a method of taking account of finite vehicle length is presented. The resulting formulae are applied to a typical tracked hovercraft vehicle.