Statistical analysis of wind profile in the surface layer at the Alcântara launching center

Abstract

Statistical analysis of the wind profile made at an anemometric tower installed at the Alcântara Launching Center was based on wind data (direction and wind speed) collected between 1995 up to 1999, which was carried out at six different levels: 6.0, 10.0, 16.3, 28.5, 43.0, and 70.0 m. This analysis was made for typical rainy months (March) and dry (September) season, in the Alcântara Launching Center area. The analyzed data total during the wet season (March) was 76,882 wind profiles (time interval of ten minutes) and during the dry season (September) was of 109,809 profiles. It was computed the mean wind speed (or intensity) of the wind, standard deviation, median, mode, and the prevailing wind direction. The predominant direction was from NE with 33 and 40% for wet and dry seasons, respectively. The average values of wind speed showed a dependency with height and it was observed that the highest levels of the anemometric tower have the strongest wind speed in the dry period (8.2 ms-1). The values of average wind speeds observed were 6.4 ms-1 for the dry season and 4.1 ms-1 during the wet one. The normal and Weibull statistical distributions were adjusted to the observed data set. Results show that the wind speed is adjusted to a 95% level (α=0.05) for the normal and Weibull statistical distributions. The Weibull distribution for the entire period presented and adjust to values between 3.0 and 9.0 ms-1, and the normal one showed a good fit for values between 4.0 and 9.0 ms-1.