WIND-TUNNEL SIMULATION REQUIREMENTS TO ASSESS WIND LOADS ON LOW-RISE BUILDINGS

Observations of mean, r.m.s. and peak pressures on the roof of a 1:50 scale model of the experimental building at the Wind Engineering Resea rch Field Laboratory (WERFL) at Texas Tech University are discussed. P ressure coefficients were acquired with the model placed in turbulent shear layers developed over several different roughness configurations in the boundary-layer wind tunnel which is part of the wind load test facility at Clemson University. This investigation was performed to s tudy the effects of the different flow parameters on the observed pres sure coefficients, including the effects of horizontal turbulence inte nsities, integral scales and the small-scale turbulence content in the incident flow. Based on the comparison of the results from the Clemso n laboratory with those obtained in the field, priority flow-simulatio n criteria are established for the assessment of surface pressures on low-rise structures obtained from wind tunnel model experiments. (C) 1 998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.