Comparative Inter-Laboratory Study of Wind Loading on Low Industrial Buildings

摘要

Results of an ongoing inter-laboratory comparative study of approach flow and wind pressures on low buildings are presented. The wind tunnel data generated at six wind engineering laboratories during a pilot project initiated and coordinated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology was employed. Variability in the laboratory wind loading on low buildings was investigated. The largest variability in the laboratory wind pressures and in the associated wind-induced internal loading in structural frames of generic low buildings was found for suburban wind exposure, for which an average coefficient of variation of 26.6 percent was observed. This variability was primarily attributed to differences in the approach flows employed in physical modeling of wind pressures on tested buildings, carried out by the participating laboratories. The variability in the approach flows resulted in a large measure from the differences in the along-wind turbulence intensity implied by different empirical models, defining the target wind exposures and used by the laboratories.