Author(s)

S. Giappino, L. Rosa, G. Tomasini & A. Zasso

Abstract

Wind tunnel studies on a residential tall building and a numerical model to evaluate the fac¸ade design wind loads are presented. External and internal pressure measurements are carried out on a rigid model in a geometric scale factor equal to 1/100. The pressure inside the building is investigated in a top corner \“room” as a significant test condition. The case with a single dominant opening is studied as it is considered the worst configuration. Tests show that, according to previous studies on low-rise buildings, the internal pressure closely follows the external pressure at the opening. The experimental data obtained from the \“typical room” are used to calibrate a numerical model adopted to calculate the net-pressure coefficients on the entire surface of the tower. Keywords: wind loads, wind tunnel test, internal pressure, net pressure, external pressure, net-load numerical model, tall building, single opening. 1 Introduction Turbulence of the incoming wind and flow pattern around a building generate a fluctuating external pressure field on the building itself. The internal pressure could be dependent on this external pressure field. For sealed buildings, the internal pressure is small comparedwith the external pressure.However, in some circumstances the internal pressure can assume large values. On tall buildings an important design case for a cladding at a corner could be a wall opening at the adjacent wall at the same corner, maybe caused by a window left open during a strong storm. The combination of a large internal pressure and a external suction (and vice-versa) can generate a large net-load across the envelope and cause the failure of a cladding. Therefore this is an important design load condition.

Keywords

wind loads, wind tunnel test, internal pressure, net pressure, external pressure, net-load numerical model, tall building, single opening.