IMPORTANCE OF TURBULENCE FOR THE PREDICTION OF SURFACE PRESSURES ON LOW-RISE STRUCTURES

Full/model-scale pressure coefficients at four different locations on the surface of a rectangular structure are compared in order to evalua te basic wind-tunnel simulation criteria. Analysis of field records fr om the Wind Engineering Research Field Laboratory (WERFL) are limited to those records for which the streamwise and lateral turbulence inten sities closely matched those of the simulations. No attempt is made to scale the turbulence integral scale. Flow parameters and pressure dat a from field records are compared with those from two wind-tunnel mode l (scale 1:50) experiments. The first simulation features the conventi onal spire-roughness method, while for the second simulation small spi res are added just upstream of the model location. The purpose of the addition of the small spires is to match the lateral turbulence intens ities and to increase the small-scale turbulence content of the three components in the incident flow.