• Wind and Structures
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.383-400
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• 2009

Low rise building roofs can be subjected to large fluctuating pressures during a tropical cyclone resulting in fatigue failure of cladding. Following the damage to housing in Tropical Cyclone Tracy in Darwin, Australia, the Darwin Area Building Manual (DABM) cyclic loading test criteria, that loaded the cladding for 10000 cycles oscillating from zero to a permissible stress design pressure, and the Experimental Building Station TR440 test of 10200 load cycles which increased in steps to the permissible stress design pressure, were developed for assessing building elements susceptible to low cycle fatigue failure. Recently the 'Low-High-Low' (L-H-L) cyclic test for metal roofing was introduced into the Building Code of Australia (2007). Following advances in wind tunnel data acquisition and full-scale wind loading simulators, this paper presents a comparison of wind-induced cladding damage, from a "design" cyclone proposed by Jancauskas, et al. (1994), with current test criteria developed by Mahendran (1995). Wind tunnel data were used to generate the external and net pressure time histories on the roof of a low-rise building during the passage of the "design" cyclone. The peak pressures generated at the windward roof corner for a tributary area representative of a cladding fastener are underestimated by the Australian/New Zealand Wind Actions Standard. The "design" cyclone, with increasing and decreasing wind speeds combined with changes in wind direction, generated increasing then decreasing pressures in a manner similar to that specified in the L-H-L test. However, the L-H-L test underestimated the magnitude and number of large load cycles, but overestimated the number of cycles in the mid ranges. Cladding elements subjected to the L-H-L test showed greater fatigue damage than when experiencing a five hour "design" cyclone containing higher peak pressures. It is evident that the increased fatigue damage was due to the L-H-L test having a large number of load cycles cycling from zero load (R=0) in contrast to that produced during the cyclone.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.15-33
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• 2014

This paper describes partial turbulence simulation and validation of the aerodynamic pressures on building models for an open-jet small-scale 12-Fan Wall of Wind (WOW) facility against their counterparts in a boundary-layer wind tunnel. The wind characteristics pertained to the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) mean wind speed profile and turbulent fluctuations simulated in the facility. Both in the wind tunnel and the small-scale 12-Fan WOW these wind characteristics were produced by using spires and roughness elements. It is emphasized in the paper that proper spectral density parameterization is required to simulate turbulent fluctuations correctly. Partial turbulence considering only high frequency part of the turbulent fluctuations spectrum was simulated in the small-scale 12-Fan WOW. For the validation of aerodynamic pressures a series of tests were conducted in both wind tunnel and the small-scale 12-fan WOW facilities on low-rise buildings including two gable roof and two hip roof buildings with two different slopes. Testing was performed to investigate the mean and peak pressure coefficients at various locations on the roofs including near the corners, edges, ridge and hip lines. The pressure coefficients comparisons showed that open-jet testing facility flows with partial simulations of ABL spectrum are capable of inducing pressures on low-rise buildings that reasonably agree with their boundary-layer wind tunnel counterparts.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.159-175
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• 2000

Many practical time series, including pressure signals measured on roof-corners of low-rise buildings in quartering winds, consist of relatively quiescent periods interrupted by intermittent transients. The dyadic wavelet transform is used to detect these transients in pressure time series and a relatively simple pattern classification scheme is used to detect underlying structure in these transients. Statistical analysis of the resulting pattern classes yields a library of signal "building blocks", which are useful for detailed characterization of transients inherent to the signals being analyzed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.93-115
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• 2013

This paper describes a study of the influence of a dynamically flexible building structure on pressures inside and net pressures on the roof of low-rise buildings with a dominant opening. It is shown that dynamic interaction between the flexible roof and the internal pressure results in a coupled system that is similar to a two-degree-of-freedom mechanical system consisting of two mass-spring-damper systems with excitation forces acting on both the masses. Two resonant modes are present, the natural frequencies of which can readily be obtained from the model. As observed with quasi-static building flexibility, the effect of increased dynamic flexibility is to reduce the first natural frequency as well as the corresponding peak value of the admittance, the latter being the result of increased damping effects. Consequently, it is found that the internal and net roof pressure fluctuations (RMS coefficients) are also reduced with dynamic flexibility. This model has been validated from experiments conducted using a cylindrical model with a leeward end flexible diaphragm, whereby good match between predicted and measured natural frequencies, and trends in peak admittances and RMS responses with flexibility, were obtained. Furthermore, since significant differences exist between internal and net roof pressure responses obtained from the dynamic flexibility model and those obtained from the quasi-static flexibility model, it is concluded that the quasi-static flexibility assumption may not be applicable to dynamically flexible buildings. Additionally, since sensitivity analyses reveal that the responses are sensitive to both the opening loss coefficient and the roof damping ratio, careful estimates should therefore be made to these parameters first, if predictions from such models are to have significance to real buildings.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 2009

Local exhaust system used in toilet and cooking place of low-rise public house installed roof ventilator at terminal of stack. There are many high riser public houses in Korea. These buildings were not viewed as being major contributors to exhaust pollutants producted in indoor. It was because many engineers thought that exhaust in high riser public house depends on stack effect. But Neutral pressure level represents in a terminal of stack with air tightness for the best exhaust efficiency. Thereby, lower floors have the worst indoor air quality. This paper focuses mainly on the exhaust efficiency improved by roof fan with motor installed in high riser public house. It is observed there is higher exhaust efficiency than the existing natural roof ventilator.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.163-173
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• 2018

The design wind pressure for low-rise buildings in the ASCE 7-10 is defined by procedures that are categorized into the Main Wind Force-Resisting System (MWFRS) and the Components and Cladding (C&C). Some of these procedures were originally developed based on steel portal frames of industrial buildings, while the residential structures are a completely different structural system, most of which are designed as low-rise light-frame wood constructions. The purpose of this study is to discuss the rationality (or irrationality) of the extension of the wind loads calculated by the ASCE 7-10 to the light-frame wood residential buildings that represent the most vulnerable structures under extreme wind conditions. To serve this purpose, the same approach as used in the development of Chapter 28 of the ASCE 7-10 that envelops peak responses is adopted in the present study. Database-assisted design (DAD) methodology is used by applying the dynamic wind loads from Louisiana State University (LSU) database on a typical residential building model to assess the applicability of the standard by comparing the induced responses. Rather than the postulated critical member demands on the industrial building such as the bending moments at the knee, the maximum values at the critical points for wood frame buildings under wind loads are used as indicators for the comparison. Then, the critical members are identified through these indicators in terms of the displacement or the uplift force at connections and roof envelope. As a result, some situations for each of the ASCE 7 procedures yielding unconservative wind loads on the typical low-rise residential building are identified.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.89-101
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• 2009

The Monte Carlo procedure was used to simulate wind load effects on a light-frame low-rise structure of irregular shape and a main wind force resisting system. Two analytical models were studied: rigid-beam and rigid-plate models. The models assumed that roof diaphragms were rigid beam or rigid plate and shear walls controlled system behavior and failure. The parameters defining wall stiffness, including imperfections, were random and included wall stiffness, wall capacity and yield displacements. The effect of openings was included in the simulation via a set of discrete multipliers with uniform distribution. One and two-story buildings were analyzed and the models can be expanded into multiple-floor structures provided that the assumptions made in this paper are not violated.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.25-46
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• 2013

This paper presents a boundary-layer wind tunnel (BLWT) study on the effect of variable dominant openings on steady and transient responses of wind-induced internal pressure in a low-rise building. The paper presents a parametric study focusing on differences and similarities between transient and steady-state responses, the effects of size and locations of dominant openings and vent openings, and the effects of wind angle of attack. In addition, the necessity of internal volume correction during sudden breaching, i.e., a transient response experiment was investigated. A comparison of the BLWT data with ASCE 7-2010, as well as with limited large-scale data obtained at a 'Wall of Wind' facility, is presented.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.273-278
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• 2014

Green roof's performance in reducing stormwater runoff has been reported by numerous studies. Nonetheless, the roles of low growing vegetation in influencing stormwater runoff reduction on green roofs have been greatly overlooked. This paper describes an experiment investigating the influence of low growing vegetation in the reduction of tropical stormwater runoff on extensive green roofs. Three types of locally occurring native vegetation and one non-native Sedum species were selected (fern, herb, grass and succulent) for the experiment. Stormwater runoff reduction performance from different low growing species was done by measuring excess water runoff from the simulated green roof modules. The results show significant differences in stormwater runoff reduction from different types of vegetation. Fern was the most effective in reducing stormwater runoff, followed by herb, Sedum and grass. Vegetative characters that are found to attribute towards the performance of stormwater runoff are rooting density, structure, density, leaf type, and vegetation biomass.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.255-274
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• 2023

The aim of this paper is to enhance the accuracy of predicting time-averaged external surface pressures on low-rise buildings by utilizing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. To achieve this, benchmark studies of the Silsoe cube and the Texas Tech University (TTU) experimental building are employed for comparison with simulation results. The paper is structured into three main sections. In the initial part, an appropriate domain size is selected based on the precision of mean pressure coefficients on the windward face of the cube, utilizing Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence models. Subsequently, recommendations regarding the optimal computational domain size for an isolated building are provided based on revised findings. Moving on to the second part, the Silsoe cube model is examined within a horizontally homogeneous computational domain using more accurate turbulence models, such as Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and hybrid RANS-LES models. For computational efficiency, transient simulation settings are employed, building upon previous studies by the authors at the Windstorm Impact, Science, and Engineering (WISE) Lab, Louisiana State University (LSU). An optimal meshing strategy is determined for LES based on a grid convergence study. Three hybrid RANS-LES cases are investigated to achieve desired enhancements in the distribution of mean pressure coefficients on the Silsoe cube. In the final part, a 1:10 scale model of the TTU building is studied, incorporating the insights gained from the second part. The generated flow characteristics, including vertical profiles of mean velocity, turbulence intensity, and velocity spectra (small and large eddies), exhibit good agreement with full-scale (TTU) measurements. The results indicate promising roof pressures achieved through the careful consideration of meshing strategy, time step, domain size, inflow turbulence, near-wall treatment, and turbulence models. Moreover, this paper demonstrates an improvement in mean roof pressures compared to other state-of-the-art studies, thus highlighting the significance of CFD simulations in building aerodynamics.