Hurricane Boundary Layer Flow Simulations, in Hurricane Boundary Layer Wind Database

Hurricanes interact with the built and natural environment through the hurricane boundary layer (HBL). Accurate spatial and temporal data on the HBL are difficult to obtain because of practical limitations in observational data and because mesoscale simulations do not resolve turbulence in the HBL. A recent approach initiated by Nakanishi and Niino (2012) and Bryan et al. (2017) enables simulation of a small but representative portion of the HBL in a turbulent channel-flow-like setup. These simulations feature domain sizes that are small enough to perform turbulence-resolving large-eddy simulations (LES) while accounting for the impact of large-scale dynamics on the turbulence. This database features 216 such simulations, varying input parameters such as the gradient wind, radius, roughness length, etc. The database consists of instantaneous 3-D snapshots of the velocity field and averages of the first- and second-order turbulent statistics. The database would be of use for tuning parameterizations in mesoscale models, as well as the specification of flow statistics in wind engineering and coastal resilience.