• Wind and Structures
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.105-114
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• 2021

This paper describes a wind tunnel test on a 1:25 scale model of TTU building with several adjustable openings in order to comprehensively study the characteristics of fluctuating internal pressures, especially the phenomenon of the increase in fluctuating internal pressures induced by tangential flow over building openings and the mechanism causing that. The effects of several factors, such as wind angle, turbulence intensity, opening location, opening size, opening shape and background porosity on the fluctuating internal pressures at oblique wind angles are also described. It has been found that there is a large increase in the fluctuating internal pressures at certain oblique wind angles (typically around 60° to 80°). These fluctuations are greater than those produced by the flow normal to the opening when the turbulence intensity is low. It is demonstrated that the internal pressure resonances induced by the external pressure fluctuations emanating from flapping shear layers on the sidewall downstream of the windward corner are responsible for the increase in the fluctuating internal pressures. Furthermore, the test results show that apart from the opening shape, all the other factors influence the fluctuating internal pressures and the internal pressure resonances at oblique wind angles to varying degrees.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.469-488
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• 2015

A full-scale instrumented low-rise building with gable roof was built at a coastal site with a high incidence of tropical cyclones for monitoring of wind effects on the building during windstorms. This paper presents the field measurements of the wind velocity field around and the wind-induced pressures on the low-rise building during the passage of severe tropical storm Soudelor. Near-ground wind characteristics such as wind speed, wind direction, turbulence intensity, gust factor, turbulence integral length scale and wind velocity spectra were investigated. The wind-induced pressures on the roof of the building were analyzed and discussed. The results revealed that the eave and ridge edges on the roof were subjected to the most severe suction pressures under quartering winds. These suction pressures showed obvious non-Gaussian behavior. The measured results were compared with the provisions of ASCE 7-10 to assess the suitability of the code of practice for the wind-resistant design of low-rise buildings under tropical cyclones. The field study aims to provide useful information that can enhance our understanding of the extreme wind effects on low-rise buildings in an effort to reduce tropical cyclone wind damages to residential buildings.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.559-573
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• 2020

This paper presents a study on the effectiveness of the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) technique for reconstruction of wind pressure field as applied to a cylindrical shell roof based on simultaneously measured wind pressure data. The influence of wind loading mode truncation on the statistics of dynamic pressures and wind load effects are investigated. The results showed that truncation of higher wind loading modes can have more noticeable influence on the maximum and minimum pressures that the standard derivation (STD) values. The truncation primarily affects the high-frequency content of the pressures. Estimation of background response using wind loading modes is more effective than the use of traditional structural modal analysis.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.131-146
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• 2001

A full-scale synchronized data acquisition system was set up on the roof of the experimental building at the Texas Tech University Wind Engineering Research Field Laboratory to simultaneously collect approaching wind data, conical vortex images, and roof corner suction pressure data. One-second conditional sampling technique has been applied in the data analysis, which makes it possible to separately evaluate the influencing effects of the horizontal wind angle of attack, ${\theta}$, and the vertical wind angle of attack, ${\varphi}$. Results show a clear cause-and-effect relationship between the incident wind, conical vortices, and the induced roof-corner high-suction pressures. The horizontal wind angle of attack, ${\theta}$, is shown to be the most significant factor in influencing the overall vortex structure and the suction pressures beneath. It is further revealed that the vertical wind angle of attack, ${\varphi}$, plays a critical role in generating the instantaneous peak suction pressures near the roof corner.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.117-136
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• 2013

A field study of wind-induced internal pressures in a flexible and porous industrial warehouse with a single dominant opening, of various sizes for a range of moderate wind speeds and directions, is reported in this paper. Comparatively weak resonance of internal pressure for oblique windward opening situations, and hardly discernible at other wind directions, is attributed to the inherent leakage and flexibility in the envelope of the building in addition to the moderate wind speeds encountered during the tests. The measured internal pressures agree well with the theoretical predictions obtained by numerically simulating the analytical model of internal pressure for a porous and flexible building with a dominant opening. Ratios of the RMS and peak internal to opening external pressures obtained in the study are presented in a non-dimensional format along with other published full scale measurements and compared with the non-dimensional design equation proposed in recent literature.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.395-405
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• 2022

Tornado-induced damages to high-rise buildings and low-rise buildings are quite different in nature. Tornado losses to high-rise buildings are generally associated with building envelope failures while tornado-induced damages to low-rise buildings are usually associated with structural or large component failures such as complete collapses, or roofs being torn off. While studies of tornado-induced structural damages tend to focus mainly on low-rise residential buildings, transmission towers, or nuclear power plants, the current rapid expansion of city centers and development of large-scale building complexes increases the risk of tornadoes impacting tall buildings. It is, therefore, important to determine how tornado-induced load affects tall buildings compared with those based on synoptic boundary layer winds. The present study applies an experimentally simulated tornado wind field to the Commonwealth Advisory Aeronautical Research Council (CAARC) building and estimates and compares its pressure coefficient effects against the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) flow field. Simulations are performed at the Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome which is capable of generating both ABL and tornadic winds. A model of the CAARC building at a scale of 1:200 for both ABL and tornado flows was built and equipped with pressure taps. Mean and peak surface pressures for TLV flow are reported and compared with the ABL induced wind for different time-averaging. By following a compatible definition of the pressure coefficients for TLV and ABL fields, the resulting TLV pressure field presents a similar trend to the ABL case. Also, the results show that, for the high-rise building model, the mean and 3-sec peak pressures are larger for the ABL case compared to the TLV case. These results provide a way forward for the code implementation of tornado-induced pressures on high-rise buildings.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.37-54
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• 2020

To investigate the motion-induced aeroelastic effects (or aerodynamic feedback effects) on a square cylinder in uniform flow, a series of wind tunnel tests involving the pressure measurement of a rigid model (RM) and simultaneous measurement of the pressure and vibration of an aeroelastic model (AM) have been systematically carried out. More specifically, the aerodynamic feedback effects on the structural responses, on the mean and root-mean-square wind pressures, on the power spectra and coherence functions of wind pressures at selected locations, and on the aerodynamic forces were investigated. The results indicated the vibration in the lock-in range made the shedding vortex more coherent and better organized, and hence presented unfavorable wind-induced effects on the structure. Whereas the vibration in the non-lock-in range generally showed insignificant effects on the flow structures surrounding the square cylinder.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.24 no.B
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• pp.29-36
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• 2004

The wind and wind-induced dynamic wind pressures fluctuate irregularly according to time and space. In this study, the proper orthogonal decomposition(POD) technique is applied to wind pressures acting on a tall tower model, and the following results are found: the along-wind and across-wind forces can be reconstructed by only four dominant POD modes, and the reconstructed errors are 4.71% and 22%, respectively for across-wind and along-wind directions. The physical meanings for dominant modes are also presented in the paper. The POD analysis can compress complex wind pressure data only by a few dominant modes and interpret spatio-temporal characteristics of wind pressure by novel way while existing statistical methods do not have such benefits.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.193-202
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• 2024

Modern high-rise tower designs incorporating recessed balcony cavity spaces can be prone to high-frequency and narrow-band Rossiter aerodynamic excitations under glancing incident winds that can harmonize and compete with recessed balcony volume acoustic Helmholtz modes and facade elastic responses. Resulting resonant inertial wind loading to balcony facades responding to these excitations is additive to the peak design wind pressures currently allowed for in wind codes and can present as excessive facade vibrations and sub-audible throbbing in the serviceability range of wind speeds. This paper presents a methodology to determine Cavity Amplification Factors to account for façade resonant inertial wind loads resulting from balcony cavity aero-acoustic-elastic resonances by drawing upon field observations and the results of full-scale monitoring and model-scale wind tunnel tests. Recessed balcony cavities with single orifice type openings and located within curved façade tower geometries appear particularly prone. A Cavity Amplification Factor of 1.8 is calculated in one example representing almost a doubling of local façade design wind pressures. Balcony façade and tower design recommendations to mitigate wind induced aero-acoustic-elastic resonances are provided.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.433-449
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• 2010

Wind tunnel model tests were conducted for a residential apartment block located within the complex terrain of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). The test building is typical of medium-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong. The model study was conducted using modelling techniques and assumptions that are commonly used to predict design wind loads and pressures for buildings sited in regions of significant topography. Results for the building model with and without the surrounding topography were compared to investigate the effects of far-field and near-field topography on wind characteristics at the test building site and wind-induced external pressure coefficients at key locations on the building facade. The study also compared the wind tunnel test results to topographic multipliers and external pressure coefficients determined from nine international design standards. Differences between the external pressure coefficients stipulated in the various standards will be exacerbated when they are combined with the respective topographic multipliers.