Wind-Tunnel Testing of Low- and Midrise Buildings under Heterogeneous Upwind Terrains

Abstract

An extensive series of wind-tunnel experiments were conducted in the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (BLWT) Experimental Facility (EF) at the University of Florida (UF) to investigate the effect of heterogenous terrain on wind flow and pressure distributions on building surfaces. Many studies have already been performed on the effect of upwind terrain on wind characteristics and wind loads on buildings. Previous tests in wind tunnels were mainly designed for uniform upwind terrain or simple two-dimensional roughness changes (e.g., smooth-to-rough change or vice versa). Using the wind-tunnel facility at the UF, we were able to perform an extensive series of tests on heterogeneous upwind terrains. The first part of the testing was focused on wind characteristics by measuring the three components of wind velocity when wind flow passed over different complex upwind terrains. The second part of the testing was intended to obtain the aerodynamic loads of wind over complex terrains on low-rise and midrise building models. The data and metadata are publicly available on the DesignSafe-CI repository under the DOI of 10.17603/Ds2-6hg9-R131. Researchers and practicing engineers can use the collected data to understand the effect of heterogeneous upwind terrain better.