An experimental and numerical study of microscale wind conditions in the Port of Rotterdam

Knowledge of microscale wind conditions is important for maneuvering and mooring configurations of ships and also for optimizing the harbor design. The aim of this study is to translate the macroscale wind conditions measured at a nearshore reference station to the local (microscale) wind conditions in the harbor basins. An extensive measurement campaign using ultrasonic anemometers has been performed during a period of 6 months. These measurements are compared with the numerical simulations with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) on a high-resolution grid. This comparison shows a good agreement for such a complex heterogeneous terrain. 89% of the simulated amplification factors (γ=Ump/Ump1) are within the range of the mean measured amplification factors ± two times the standard deviation.