Investigation of Hwind simulation wind speeds and a methodology for simulating distributions of extreme winds in hurricane environments

The wind speeds simulated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s HWIND hurricane simulation model are compared to data gathered by Texas Tech University’s Hurricane Research Team. The errors associated with the HWIND reported wind speeds are quantified for data from 32 deployments, using 15 platforms, during the landfall of 10 hurricanes, from 1998 to 2005. The relationships between parent wind distribution parameters and extreme wind field parameters is explored and a methodology for simulating extreme wind speed distributions in hurricane environments is advanced. Utilizing the proposed methodology, hurricane wind field model data can be used to generate distributions of extreme winds for direct use in assessing structural performance during hurricane events.