Most of the studies on tropical cyclone (TC) intensity change focus on the effect of vertical wind shear. One of the proposed physical processes is the horizontal asymmetry generated as a result of the vertical wind shear. This paper therefore attempts to study, based on a numerical model, the more fundamental problem of the effect on TC intensity change due to horizontal asymmetry caused by horizontal shear. The study begins with a simple uniform flow imposed on a cyclonic vortex (which effectively creates a horizontal wind asymmetry). It is found that the vortex does not intensify as much as one without any background flow, even on an f plane. The reduction in the amount of intensification also depends on the vortex intensity prior to the imposition of the flow, with a stronger initial vortex being affected less. On a beta plane, the vortex actually weakens, and the weakening is accelerated with the imposition of a uniform flow. This accelerated weakening depends on the direction of the flow, with easterly flow having a greater effect. Preliminary analyses indicate that such changes in intensity result from the wind asymmetries that lead to asymmetries in the angular momentum import/export. Other results on the effect of a horizontally-sheared flow will be presented at the conference.