ME G0200 Applied Fluid Mechanics

HW #2: Flowlines of Hurricane Sandy (Equivalent to a quiz) This is an intense hurricane season and this assignment aims at some understanding of the basic fluid mechanical features of hurricanes. A hurricane can be considered, after some significant simplifications, as a vortex of circulation carried away by its self-induced velocity Uc applied at its center. The vortex can be assumed as a two-dimensional line vortex of infinite length with its axis perpendicular to wind velocity all the times.

The circulation is defined as U r rd where Ur is the radial component on a circle C which

C

encloses the vortex. If you consider C to be the outer circle of the core of the vortex i.e. the eye of the hurricane, then U r , max 2rc . You can find typical values of Ur, max from hurricane Sandy data in the web. You can also find information of location of the center of the hurricane in Geographic coordinate system x, y (latitude and longitude), time, ground speed (=Uc) and maximum speed at the tip of the core (=Ur, max) Typical values for Ur, max are between 60 to 80 miles/h. Try to find the size of the core from other web sites. You have to superimpose the translational velocity field with the rotational induced flow field Ur and u where u is given by u / 2r . At time t=0 the vortex is at the origin of the coordinate system (0, 0) which is somewhere in the Caribbean.

1. You need to establish Isaacs UC velocity from the information of its location (x, y) along its path by computing the velocity components dx/dt and dy/dt as a function of (x, y) 2. Estimate its strength as a function of time/location (x, y) along its path from U r , max 2rc You need to know rc as a function of time for this. If you cannot find it assume it is 5km. 3. Find the streamlines, pathlines and streaklines of the flow field passing through the point (x0, y0) which is the location of Miami. Use several values of (x0, y0) to demonstrate the effects on other cities like New York, Philadelphia, Havana etc... 4. Draw the streamlines, pathlines and streaklines of the two-dimensional flow field with values of parameters according to your selection and put the regional map in the background. Plot streamlines which correspond to fraction of the time needed to arrive in (x0, y0) which is 2 2 1/ 2 given by ( x 0 y0 ) / U0 . This time is of the order of a few days. Plot pathlines passing through several points (x0, y0) for all times. Plot streaklines passing through several points (x0, y0) for all times. (x0, y0)= various cities Use only numerical techniques (not exact solutions) to compute the flowlines mentioned above. You should program in symbolic language MATLAB only and submit m-files. Your m files should run by itself and through past and run. You are also free to plot the results on any software package you have available. In order to have meaningful results determine, by trial and error, a more restricted range of what is suggested above. You are required to submit: 1. A report, which will contain the programming you carried out and the graphs properly plotted and explained on the same figure. 2. A cd with a copy of your .m file with the program and the word file with your report. Your program will be tested with the input data from the range mentioned above. No email submission!! Due October 16, 2013.

Your grade will be based mostly on: 1. Completeness of the program. Several tests with different initial points will be tried. 2. Robustness of your program. The program should work for almost any point. Make sure there is no division by zero. Test with various values of (x0, y0) coordinates. 3. Quality of graphs and plotting.