Simplified Spatial Wind Vector Interpolation Method for Airport Runway Orientation Analysis

Abstract

Runway orientation, guided by windrose analysis is crucial in airport planning as it directly influences aircraft performance and airport capacity. Proper alignment reduces crosswind components during takeoff and landing, ensuring safer operations and increase runway coverage. For a new airport in a location where comprehensive historical wind data is not available, prediction methods become an invaluable tool. To address this issue, this paper proposes a simplified interpolation method to predict wind data at target location based on available data from surrounding climate station readings. This paper validates the proposed method through a comparative analysis of predicted and actual windrose and its subsequent runway coverage at two prominent currently operational Indonesian airports: Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng (CGK) and Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport in Ujung Pandang (UPG). Additionally, the study employs the proposed method to determine the optimal runway orientation for a new VVIP airport in Indonesia's new capital city (IKN), Nusantara. The analysis reveals that the proposed interpolation method yields runway heading recommendations closely aligned with those derived from actual wind data, both for the case of CGK and UPG airport. The proposed method recommends optimal runway heading between 03-21 and 08-26 for new VVIP Airport at Nusantara, new capital city of Indonesia (IKN).