Abstract:
Wind pressure measurements were made on the tower block of the School of Engineering of the University of Auckland using a digital data acquisition system controlled by a mini-computer. An anemometer located above the tower block was used to define the local wind environment and as a reference for wind pressure coefficient determinations. A review of the available literature on full-scale wind pressure measurements on buildings and structures and the importance of acquisition systems, analysis systems and techniques on the reliability of the results was made. The measured full-scale wind pressure and velocity data was analysed to produce pressure coefficients, probability density functions, auto-correlations, power spectral densities, cross-correlations, cross-spectral densities and coherences. The form of the wind pressure probability density functions and power spectral density functions were found to be considerably at variance with those suggested in the literature, and an empirical formula was developed to describe the latter. Comparable measurements to those on the full-scale structure were also made on a scaled model of the Engineering School and its surroundings, immersed in a simulated adiabatic atmospheric boundary layer typical of that over an urban area.