Aerodynamic modeling of windbreaks in saemangeum reclaimed land

This paper discusses the quantitative effect of windbreaks on wind velocity in the reclaimed land at Saemangeum in South Korea. The effectiveness of windbreaks to reduce the velocity to prevent the generation and diffusion of dust are very critical. Using CFD simulations, the effects of porosity, height, and distance between the adjacent fences as well as the effect of tree windbreaks were investigated. A wind tunnel test was conducted and data gathered were used to develop and validate the CFD models. From the experiments and CFD simulations, the overall percentage difference of the measured velocities was 7.20% which is acceptable to validate the CFD models. In the case of tree windbreak simulation, the methodologies to model the real effect of tree windbreak were conducted and compared such as the application of tree porosity, inertial resistance and input velocity. Results have shown that a windbreak fence with porosity of 0.2 and a height of 0.6 m and constructed in array at 6 m distance between them is necessary. Initial simulation of tree windbreak also has shown that the effect of trees on flow fields using inertial resistance can be appropriate to model the real condition, although this should still be strongly validated in field studies or in wind tunnels. This study proved that CFD can be an effective tool to investigate wind flow affected by windbreaks.