• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.471-488
• /
• 2019

Wind pressure is a critical argument for the wind-resistant design of structures. The attempt, however, to explore the wind pressure field on buildings still encounters challenges though a large body of researches utilizing wind tunnel tests and wind field simulations were carried out, due to the difficulty in logical treatments on the scale effect and the modeling error. The full-scale measurement has not yet received sufficient attention. By performing a field measurement, the present paper systematically addresses wind pressures on the rectangular attic of a double-tower building. The spatial and temporal correlations among wind speed and wind pressures at measured points are discussed. In order to better understand the wind pressure distribution on the attic facades and its relationship against the approaching flow, a full-scale CFD simulation on the similar rectangular attic is conducted as well. Comparative studies between wind pressure coefficients and those provided in wind-load codes are carried out. It is revealed that in the case of wind attack angle being zero, the wind pressure coefficient of the cross-wind facades exposes remarkable variations along both horizontal and vertical directions; while the wind pressure coefficient of the windward facade remains stable along horizontal direction but exposes remarkable variations along vertical direction. The pattern of wind pressure coefficients, however, is not properly described in the existing wind-load codes.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.405-421
• /
• 2023

Strong wind is the main factors of wind-damage of high-rise buildings, which often creates largely economical losses and casualties. Wind pressure plays a critical role in wind effects on buildings. To obtain the high-resolution wind pressure field, it often requires massive pressure taps. In this study, two traditional methods, including bilinear and bicubic interpolation, and two deep learning techniques including Residual Networks (ResNet) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), are employed to reconstruct wind pressure filed from limited pressure taps on the surface of an ideal building from TPU database. It was found that the GANs model exhibits the best performance in reconstructing the wind pressure field. Meanwhile, it was confirmed that k-means clustering based retained pressure taps as model input can significantly improve the reconstruction ability of GANs model. Finally, the generalization ability of k-means clustering based GANs model in reconstructing wind pressure field is verified by an actual engineering structure. Importantly, the k-means clustering based GANs model can achieve satisfactory reconstruction in wind pressure field under the inputs processing by k-means clustering, even the 20% of pressure taps. Therefore, it is expected to save a huge number of pressure taps under the field reconstruction and achieve timely and accurately reconstruction of wind pressure field under k-means clustering based GANs model.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.11-24
• /
• 2018

Full-scale measurements of wind action on the open roof structure of the WuXi grand theater, which is composed of eight large-span free-form leaf-shaped space trusses with the largest span of 76.79 m, were conducted during the passage of Typhoons HaiKui and SuLi. The wind pressure field data were continuously and simultaneously monitored using a wind pressure monitoring system installed on the roof structure during the typhoons. A detailed analysis of the field data was performed to investigate the characteristics of the fluctuating wind pressure on the open roof, such as the wind pressure spectrum, spatial correlation coefficients, peak wind pressures and non-Gaussian wind pressure characteristics, under typhoon conditions. Three classical methods were used to calculate the peak factors of the wind pressure on the open roof, and the suggested design method and peak factors were given. The non-Gaussianity of the wind pressure was discussed in terms of the third and fourth statistical moments of the measured wind pressure, and the corresponding indication of the non-Gaussianity on the open roof was proposed. The result shows that there were large pulses in the time-histories of the measured wind pressure on Roof A2 in the field. The spatial correlation of the wind pressures on roof A2 between the upper surface and lower surface is very weak. When the skewness is larger than 0.3 and the kurtosis is larger than 3.7, the wind pressure time series on roof A2 can be taken as a non-Gaussian distribution, and the other series can be taken as a Gaussian distribution.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.287-300
• /
• 2022

Unconventional structures are getting more popular in recent days. Large-span roofs are used for many structures, such as airports, stadiums, and conventional halls. Identifying the pressure distribution and wind load acting on those structures is essential. This paper offers a collaborative study of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and wind tunnel tests for assessing wind pressure distribution for a building with a combined slender curved roof. The hybrid turbulence model, Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES), simulates the open terrain turbulent flow field. The wind-induced local pressure coefficients on complex roof structures and the turbulent flow field around the structure were thus calculated based upon open terrain wind flow simulated with the FLUENT software. Local pressure measurements were investigated in a boundary layer wind tunnel simultaneous to the simulation to determine the pressure coefficient distributions. The results predicted by CFD were found to be consistent with the wind tunnel test results. The comparative study validated that the recommended IDDES model and the vortex method associated with CFD simulation are suitable tools for structural engineers to evaluate wind effects on long-span complex roofs and plan irregular buildings during the design stage.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.589-608
• /
• 2017

A novel probabilistic approach is presented for estimating the equivalent static wind loads that produce a static response of the structure, which is "equivalent" in a probabilistic sense, to the extreme dynamic responses due to the unsteady pressure random field induced by the wind. This approach has especially been developed for complex structures (such as stadium roofs) for which the unsteady pressure field is measured in a boundary layer wind tunnel with a turbulent incident flow. The proposed method deals with the non-Gaussian nature of the unsteady pressure random field and presents a model that yields a good representation of both the quasi-static part and the dynamical part of the structural responses. The proposed approach is experimentally validated with a relatively simple application and is then applied to a stadium roof structure for which experimental measurements of unsteady pressures have been performed in boundary layer wind tunnel.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.91-106
• /
• 2003

The paper presents the results of 1:50 geometrical scale laboratory modeling of wind-induced point pressure on the roof of the Texas Tech University (TTU) test building. The nominal (prevalent at the TTU site) wind and two bounding (low and high turbulence) flows were simulated in a boundary-layer wind tunnel at Colorado State University. The results showed significant increase in the pressure peak and standard deviation with an increase in the flow turbulence. It was concluded that the roof mid-plane pressure sensitivity to the turbulence intensity was the cause of the previously reported field-laboratory mismatch of the fluctuating pressure, for wind normal and $30^{\circ}$-off normal to the building ridge. In addition, it was concluded that the cornering wind mismatch in the roof corner/edge regions could not be solely attributed to the wind-azimuth-independent discrepancy between the turbulence intensity of the approach field and laboratory flows.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.5 no.2_3_4
• /
• pp.337-346
• /
• 2002

Wind tunnel pressure measurements and numerical simulations based on the Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) are compared with full and model scale data in the flow area of impingement, separation and wake for $60^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$ wind azimuth angles. The phase averaged fluctuating pressures simulated by the RSM model are combined with modelling of the small scale, random pressure field to produce the total, instantaneous pressures. Time averaged, rsm and peak pressure coefficients are consequently calculated. This numerical approach predicts slightly better the pressure field on the roof of the TTU (Texas Tech University) building when compared to the wind tunnel experimental results. However, it shows a deviation from both experimental data sets in the impingement and wake regions. The limitations of the RSM model in resolving the intermittent flow field associated with the corner vortex formation are discussed. Also, correlations between the largest roof suctions and the corner vortex "switching phenomena" are observed. It is inferred that the intermittency and short duration of this vortex switching might be related to both the wind tunnel and numerical simulation under-prediction of the peak roof suctions for oblique wind directions.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.123-133
• /
• 2013

Pressure field and velocity profiles in a thunderstorm downburst are significantly different from that of an atmospheric boundary layer wind. A model of the pressure field in a downburst is presented in accordance with the experimental and numerical results. Large eddy simulation method is employed to investigate transient pressure field on impingement ground of a downburst. In addition, velocity profiles of the downburst are studied, and good agreement is achieved between the present results and the data obtained from empirical models.

• 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.27 no.1
• /
• pp.29-40
• /
• 2018

To investigate the characteristics of the combined wind field produced by the natural wind field and the train-induced wind field on the bridge, the aerodynamic models of train and bridge are established and the overset mesh technology is applied to simulate the movement of high-speed train. Based on ten study cases with various crosswind velocities of 0~20 m/s and train speeds of 200~350 km/h, the distributions of combined wind velocities at monitoring points around the train and the pressure on the car-body surface are analyzed. Meanwhile, the difference between the train-induced wind fields calculated by static train model and moving train model is compared. The results show that under non-crosswind condition, the train-induced wind velocity increases with the train speed while decreases with the distance to the train. Under the crosswind, the combined wind velocity is mainly controlled by the crosswind, and slightly increases with the train speed. In the combined wind field, the peak pressure zone on the headstock surface moves from the nose area to the windward side with the increase of wind velocity. The moving train model ismore applicable in analyzing the train induced wind field.