CORRELATION STRUCTURE OF RANDOM PRESSURE FIELDS

A random pressure field manifests different levels of load effects on structures and their components. Information on local point-to-point v ariation of pressure is essential for the design of cladding, or the b uilding envelope system, whereas area averaged loads are important for the overall structural loads. Fundamental to the characterizations of pressure fields is their correlation structure which determines the r esulting aerodynamic load effects. This paper focuses on the correlati on structure of the pressure field on prismatic bodies of finite heigh t immersed in turbulent boundary layer flows. Wind tunnel and numerica l simulation data are utilized to study the correlation structure. Bot h unconditional and conditional correlations, i.e. correlation of unco nditionally and conditionally sampled data, are discussed here in the light of their sensitivity to the relative location on the surface, bo dy geometry and the approach flow characteristics.