Implementation of a Simple CFD Tornado Simulator in Open-Source Software OpenFOAM

Tornadoes have been reported in the USA, Canada, China, and Europe over the past several decades. While not very common, yet there have been sporadic occurrences of tornadoes in India (e.g., West Bengal tornado outbreak, 2021). Although the occurrence of tornadoes and the economic and human losses seem to be a cosmopolitan problem, the research efforts to develop a better understanding of wind loading of structures during tornadoes are limited to select research groups of prestigious universities in the world. In that regard, the authors have previously pursued CFD modeling work on tornadoes using in-house codes. However, there are inherent challenges in customizing in-house codes if it has to be adapted to user-specific cases. Thus, for the wider accessibility of tornado simulation tools to students and early-career researchers, the details of the implementation of a simple CFD tornado simulator model using open-source software OpenFOAM is discussed in this contribution.