LIDAR observation and numerical simulation of vortex/wave shedding at the Eastern Runway Corridor of the Hong Kong International Airport

Vortex/wave shedding is sometimes observed in the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) region by such sophisticated instruments as Doppler LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) systems. During the past three years several vortex/wave shedding cases have been documented, often to the west of HKIA, downwind of the mountains which can block and disturb the prevailing airflow from the southeast. These shedding movements might trigger turbulence and wind shear, threatening aircraft landing from the west. This paper documents, for the first time, that such shedding can also occur at the runway corridor to the east of the airport's south runway, caused by mountains on the eastern side of Lantau Island. It calculates the shedding period and Froude number of the events, comparing these data with results reported in the literature. It also discusses, for the first time, the use of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to simulate these events, based on homogeneous initialization only and using the upper air ascent data closest in time to the events. The simulations were shown to successfully reproduce the main features of the shedding, pointing to the possibility of applying this kind of simulation method in real-time forecasts to provide early warning services for aircraft taking off from HKIA.