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CFD-Guided Shadowing-Aware Acoustic Path Selection for Accurate Wind Estimation in Ultrasonic Anemometers
Tien Minh Khoi Nguyen1, Tan Dung Nguyen2, Le The Anh Vi1
1Industry 4.0 Convergence Bionics Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan 48513, Republic of Korea.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 28, 2026
Summary
Ultrasonic anemometers face errors from transducer shadowing. This study introduces a new method to mitigate these errors by selecting optimal acoustic paths, significantly improving wind measurement accuracy.
Area of Science:
- Fluid Dynamics
- Acoustics
- Meteorological Instrumentation
Background:
- Ultrasonic anemometers offer high-speed wind measurement but are prone to transducer shadowing, causing airflow disruption and time-of-flight (TOF) errors.
- Existing studies on shadowing effects are limited to low wind speeds and lack bias mitigation strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze wake-induced velocity deficits and their impact on TOF measurements in ultrasonic anemometers.
- To develop and validate a method for mitigating shadowing-induced bias in wind speed and direction measurements.
Main Methods:
- A coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and acoustic propagation framework was employed.
- Simulations covered wind speeds from 5 to 75 m/s across a full 360° range for a three-transducer setup.
- A shadowing-aware acoustic path selection algorithm was developed.
Main Results:
- Shadowing distortions are direction-dependent, peaking in specific angular sectors with significant velocity deficits (approx. 40%).
- The proposed method reduced average velocity root-mean-square error (RMSE) to 0.349 m/s and directional RMSE to 1.14°.
- Improvements were more than an order of magnitude compared to shadow-unaware methods.
Conclusions:
- The developed framework provides a physically grounded, simulation-based approach for accurate wind measurement.
- Shadowing-aware path selection is crucial for reliable ultrasonic anemometer performance across various wind conditions.
- This research offers a pathway to enhance the precision of ultrasonic anemometry in diverse applications.
