• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.117-136
• /
• 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
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.1-23
• /
• 2013

The wind-induced transient response of internal pressure following the creation of a sudden dominant opening during the occurrence of high external pressure, in low-rise residential and industrial buildings was numerically investigated. The values of the ill-defined parameters namely the flow contraction coefficient, loss coefficient and the effective slug length were calibrated by matching the analytical response with the computational fluid dynamics predictions. The effect of a sudden i.e., "instantaneously created" windward opening in the Texas Technical University (TTU) test building envelope was studied for two different envelope flexibility-leakage combinations namely: (1) a quasi-statically flexible and non-porous envelope and (2) a quasi-statically flexible and porous envelope. The responses forced by creating the openings at different time leads/lags with respect to the occurrence of the peak external pressure showed that for cases where the openings are created in close temporal proximity to the peak pressure, the transient overshoot values of internal pressure could be higher than the peak values of internal pressure in the pre-sequent or subsequent resonant response. In addition, the influence of time taken for opening creation on the level of overshoot was also investigated for the TTU building for the two different envelope characteristics. Non-dimensional overshoot factors are presented for a variety of cavity volume-opening area combinations for (1) buildings with rigid/quasi-statically flexible non-porous envelope, and (2) buildings with rigid/quasi-statically flexible and porous envelope (representing most low rise residential and industrial buildings). While the factors appear slightly on the high side due to conservative assumptions made in the analysis, a careful consideration regarding the implication of the timing and magnitude of such overshoots during strong gusts, in relation to the steady state internal pressure response in cyclonic regions, is warranted.