Abstract
Coastal areas of the US are affected by extreme wind events, including hurricanes. Roofs are the most vulnerable building components as they are often damaged by high wind uplift forces acting on the edges and corners. This study investigates the application of a mitigation strategy, in the form of an Aerodynamics Mitigation and Power System (AMPS) (US Patent, Gan Chowdhury et al., Patent Number: US 9,951,752 B2, April 2018), designed to simultaneously reduce wind damage and provide power to buildings. The system consists of horizontal axis wind turbines, integrated to roof edges with or without gutters. Four sets of testing on a flat roof low rise building model (without gutters) -- including a bare deck configuration (i.e. without AMPS) and three cases where the roof corner was fitted with AMPS -- were conducted at the Wall of Wind Experimental Facility at Florida International University. In one of the configurations, the wind turbines were placed slightly above the roof edge, while in the other two configurations, the turbines were placed closer to the roof edge. Wind directions tested ranged from 0o to 90o (considering roof geometric symmetry). Estimation of area-averaged mean and peak pressure coefficients were made for various locations on the roof for the three different configurations, and compared with the case of no mitigation. Results show that for wind directions tested, significant reduction in mean and peak pressure coefficients (reduced suction) were obtained in those cases where the wind turbines were placed closer to the roof edge as compared to the bare roof deck case. Flow visualization studies showed that the turbines helped to disrupt the conical vortices caused by cornering winds, thereby reducing the wind uplift forces on the roof. This study shows that the AMPS can be utilized to prevent wind-induced damage to the roof. Future research will include estimation of the: (1) potential wind energy production using the mitigation system under various wind conditions, (ii) effectiveness of AMPS in mitigating wind loading on other kinds of buildings (e.g., gable and hip roof buildings), and (iii) load transferred from the system to the roof.
Highlights
Wind induced damage to low rise building roofs is common in coastal areas of USA which are prone to hurricanes with wind speeds exceeding 150 mph (Gavanski et al, 2013)
The Wall of Wind Experimental Facility (WOW EF), designated in 2015 as one of the National Science Foundation’s Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Experimental Facilities (EFs), is a stateof-the-art wind engineering research facility consisting of a 2 × 6 array of fans; each fan being powered by a 700 horsepower electric motor
The efficacy of a wind turbine system, named as Aerodynamics Mitigation and Power System (AMPS) (US Patent, Gan Chowdhury et al, Patent Number: US 9,951,752 B2, April 2018), in reducing wind loads on a flat roof building was investigated through experiments at the WOW experimental facility at Florida International University (FIU)
Summary
Wind induced damage to low rise building roofs is common in coastal areas of USA which are prone to hurricanes with wind speeds exceeding 150 mph (Gavanski et al, 2013). Various mitigation devices have been studied by researchers to reduce wind induced suction on roofs (Lin and Surry, 1993; Cochran et al, 1995; Banks and Meroney, 2001). Experimental studies on wind load mitigation using various geometries of parapets and roof edges were conducted by other researchers (Kopp et al, 2005; Blessing et al, 2009). Blessing et al (2009) carried out studies at the Wall of Wind Experimental Facility (WOW EF) at Florida International University (FIU), USA using two different aerodynamic edge shapes and found significant reduction in wind induced loads on the building roof. Based on wind tunnel studies on a low rise gable roof building, Suaris and Irwin (2010) found that perforated parapets installed at the roof corners and at the ridge resulted in about 60% reduction in the peak pressure coefficients
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
