Alan G. Davenport Wind Engineering Group

1 alan g . Davenport wind Engineering Group The Boundary Layer wind Tunnel Laboratory wind TUNNEL TESTING: A GENERAL OUTLINE May 2007 The University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Engineering Science London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B9; Tel: (519) 661-3338; Fax: (519) 661-3339 Internet: ; E-mail: wind TUNNEL TESTING: - i - alan g . Davenport wind Engineering Group A GENERAL OUTLINE TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 THE MODELLING OF THE SITE AND THE wind 2 General 2 Scaling 2 3 THE CLADDING LOADS TESTS 3 Pressures and Suctions on Exterior Surfaces 3 Scaling 3 Internal Pressures and Differential Pressures 3 4 THE DETERMINATION OF OVERALL STRUCTURAL LOADS AND RESPONSES 4 Introduction 4 The Force Balance Test 4 The Two-degree-of-freedom Aeroelastic Test 5 The Multi-degree-of-freedom Aeroelastic Test 5 Overall Loads from Local Pressure Measurements 6

2 Effective Static Force Distribution 6 Load Combination Factors 7 5 THE PEDESTRIAN LEVEL wind SPEED TEST 8 6 THE TESTING OF LONG SPAN BRIDGES 9 7 OTHER TESTS 10 REFERENCES 11 APPENDIX A A-1 THE DEFINITION OF wind CLIMATE A-1 Introduction A-1 Natural wind A-1 Availability of wind Records A-2 Probability Distribution of Mean wind Speed and Direction A-3 Applicability of the wind Climate Model A-4 APPENDIX B B-1 THE DEFINITION OF A HURRICANE wind CLIMATE B-1 Introduction B-1 The Approach Used B-1 Verifying the Approach

3 B-2 The wind Climate for a Particular Site B-2 APPENDIX C C-1 THE MEASUREMENT AND PREDICTION OF SURFACE PRESSURE C-1 Experimental Technique C-1 Experimental Time Scale C-1 Choice of Sampling Period C-2 Definition of the Pressure Coefficients C-2 wind TUNNEL TESTING: - ii - alan g .

4 Davenport wind Engineering Group A GENERAL OUTLINE General Characteristics of the Pressure Response C-3 Predictions of Peak Pressures and Suctions C-3 Limitations on the Predicted Peak Pressures and Suctions C-3 APPENDIX D D-1 PREDICTING PEAK RESPONSES FOR VARIOUS RETURN PERIODS D-1 Introduction D-1 The Prediction Process D-1 The Rate of Up-crossing of Peak (Maximum or Minimum)

5 Response Values D-2 APPENDIX E E-1 STORM PASSAGE PREDICTIONS OF wind LOADS AND RESPONSES E-1 Overview E-1 Extreme-value Predictions from Time-domain Analysis E-1 Examples of Predictions of wind Loads and Effects E-2 wind Directionality E-3 APPENDIX F F-1 DETERMINATION OF INTERNAL PRESSURE COEFFICIENTS AND THE FORMATION OF DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE COEFFICIENTS F-1 Summary F-1 Introduction F-1 Mean Internal Pressures: Distributed Leakage F-1 Mean Internal Pressures.

6 Large Openings F-2 Fluctuating Internal Pressures F-3 Forming Differential Pressure Coefficients at BLWTL F-4 Limitations of Predicted Differential Pressures F-5 APPENDIX G G-1 DETERMINATION OF TOTAL DYNAMIC LOADS USING A RIGID MODEL/FORCE BALANCE TECHNIQUE G-1 Summary G-1 Introduction G-1 Concepts of the Force Method G-1 Concept of the Balance G-2 Linear Elastic Response Calculations with the BLWT Balance G-2 Torsional Response

7 G-4 APPENDIX H H-1 AEROELASTIC SIMULATIONS OF BUILDINGS USING TWO-DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM MODELS H-1 Introduction H-1 Aeroelastic Modelling H-1 Details of the Aeroelastic Model H-2 Experimental Procedure and Preliminaries H-2 Predictions of Peak wind -Induced Response H-3 APPENDIX I I-1 AEROELASTIC SIMULATIONS OF BUILDINGS USING MULTI-DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM MODELS I-1 Introduction I-1 Aeroelastic Modelling I-1 wind TUNNEL TESTING: - iii - alan g .

8 Davenport wind Engineering Group A GENERAL OUTLINE Details of the Aeroelastic Model I-2 Experimental Procedure and Preliminaries I-2 Predictions of Peak wind -induced Response I-3 APPENDIX J J-1 DETERMINATION OF TOTAL DYNAMIC LOADS FROM THE INTEGRATION OF SIMULTANEOUSLY MEASURED PRESSURES J-1 Summary J-1 The Integration Procedure J-1 Response Calculations J-1 APPENDIX K K-1 THE EVALUATION AND USE OF EFFECTIVESTATIC FORCE DISTRIBUTIONS K-1 Effective Static Force Distributions

9 K-1 Combined Load Cases K-2 APPENDIX L L-1 THE PEDESTRIAN LEVEL wind ENVIRONMENT L-1 Introduction L-1 Test Procedure L-1 Statistical Predictions of Pedestrian Level Winds L-1 Acceptance and Safety Criteria for Pedestrian Level wind Condit