Influence of time resolution and averaging techniques of meteorological data on the estimation of wind-driven rain load on building facades for Canadian climates

Abstract

This paper investigates the influence of time resolution of meteorological data and the averaging techniques on the quantification of wind-driven rain amount on building facades for Canadian climates using three WDR models, i.e. the ISO and ASHRAE 160P semi-empirical models, and the CFD-based catch ratio method. A cubic low-rise building is used as a case study. Meteorological data i.e. wind speed, wind direction and rainfall intensity are collected at 5-min intervals at three building sites in Vancouver, Montreal and Fredericton. The 5-min data is used as the reference. The analyses show that when semi-empirical WDR models are used, the arithmetic averaging gives a better estimation while the weighted averaging tends to overestimate the WDR amount. When the detailed CFD-based catch ratio method is used, the weighted averaging technique provides a better estimation, however, the difference between the arithmetic and weighted averaging is within 3–7% for the three Canadian cities investigated. Therefore, the choice of averaging techniques depends on the WDR models to be employed and the climates.