The wind-induced response of a full-scale portal framed building

Abstract

An experimental study is presented of gust loading on the Silsoe Structures Building, a steel portal framed building instrumented with wind pressure sensors and strain gauges. It traces the spectral correlation between the free-stream wind pressure, external pressure, internal pressure and strain response for the building both with and without a dominant opening. It shows that there is a strong correspondence between the strain spectra and the internal pressure spectrum when a dominant opening is present and that the observed ‘heaving’ behaviour of the building under strong winds can be attributed to a Helmholtz oscillation effect. Gust durations are presented which facilitate predictions of peak stresses in structural members for the ‘static’ (no dominant opening) case. For the ‘dynamic’ (with dominant opening) case, dynamic magnification factors are presented which take account of the higher peak stresses generated in the structure.