Gust Factors and Turbulence Intensities for the Tropical Cyclone Environment

Gust factors are used to convert peak wind speeds averaged over a relatively short period (e.g., 3 s) to mean wind speeds averaged over a relatively long reference period (e.g., 1 h) or vice versa. Such conversions are needed for engineering, climatological, or forecasting purposes. In this paper, gust factors in tropical cyclone (TC) winds are estimated from Florida Coastal Monitoring Program (FCMP) observations of near-surface TC wind speeds representative of flow over the sea surface and over open flat terrain in coastal areas. Comparisons are made with gust factors in extratropical winds over open flat terrain that are available in the literature. According to the results of the study, for gust durations of less than 20 s, the Durst model underestimates, and the Krayer–Marshall model overestimates, gust factors of TC winds over surfaces with roughness specified in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 7 Standard Commentary as typical of open terrain. Consideration should be given to ...