Experimental investigation of Reynolds number effects on 2D rectangular prisms with various side ratios and rounded corners

Experiments on two-dimensional rectangular prisms with various side ratios (B/D=2, 3, and 4, where B is the along-wind dimension, and D is the across-wind dimension) and rounded corners (R/D=0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%, where R is the corner radius) are reported in this study. The tests were conducted in low-turbulence uniform flow to measure the wind pressures on the surfaces of 12 models for Reynolds numbers ranging from $1.1{\times}10^5$ to $6.8{\times}10^5$. The aerodynamic force coefficients were obtained by integrating the wind pressure coefficients around the model surface. Experimental results of wind pressure distributions, aerodynamic force coefficients, and Strouhal numbers are presented for the 12 models. The mechanisms of the Reynolds number effects are revealed by analyzing the variations of wind pressure distributions. The sensitivity of aerodynamic behavior to the Reynolds number increases with increasing side ratio or rounded corner ratio for rectangular prisms. In addition, the variations of the mean pressure distributions and the pressure correlations on the side surfaces of rectangular prisms with the rounded corner ratio are analyzed at $Re=3.4{\times}10^5$.