A method to estimate peak pressures on low-rise building models based on quasi-steady theory and partial turbulence analysis

Abstract

A new method for estimating peak area-averaged pressure coefficients on the roof of a low-rise building model is developed. The method relies on the well-known quasi-steady vector model to account for the large-scale, low-frequency fluctuations of the upstream wind. The novel approach is to account for small-scale and body-generated turbulence effects using a stochastic model. Wind tunnel data for a 1/50-scale low-rise building model for six different upstream turbulence conditions are used for the analysis. The fluctuating pressure component induced by the small-scale and body-generated turbulence is obtained by subtracting the quasi-static pressure component from the original pressure signal. It is observed that the small-scale pressure component is highly dependent on turbulence level of the upstream flow, such that normalization by the small-scale components of the upstream turbulence kinetic energy leads to a self-similar distribution. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to combine the small-scale and quasi-steady pressure components. The new model provides good predictions of peak area-averaged pressure coefficients that cannot be captured by the quasi-steady approach.