Experimental and Theoretical Study of Internal Pressure Loads on Boundary Walls under Gusty Wind Conditions

Abstract

This work contains an acceptable solution to the most practical interest to reduce the internal pressure load variations acting on closed envelops (i.e., inner building walls, fairing of rocket, and missile payloads) under gusty wind conditions. To simulate the gusty wind conditions (i.e., tangential unsteady flow condition), an experimental setup of a wind tunnel with a sinusoidal gust generating mechanism has been established in IDR of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (IDR/UPM), Spain. The wind tunnel has been equipped with an air reservoir with vent holes. The pressure jumps shown across the vent holes are studied as a function of sinusoidal gust frequency, volume of the air reservoir, and vent hole size. A theoretical model (based on the mass conservation equation and polytropic law gas evolution) has been proposed to predict the pressure jumps and variations under gusty wind conditions. At the end of the work, theoretical and experimental results have been studied and compared. The relationship between pressure loss coefficient ξ and flow coefficient α under unsteady flow conditions has been evaluated.