Wind tunnel tests on internal pressures of buildings with a roof opening

The effects of seventeen roof opening configurations on the internal pressures in a typical TTU building were examined by wind tunnel tests with the volume-scaled method. The configurations examined are of different opening locations and sizes, as well as the different volumes of internal spaces. The spatial distributions of the internal and external pressures and the correlations between them were specially studied. Theoretical methods for estimating the mean and root-mean-square of internal pressures were introduced, and a dimensionless formula for peak internal pressure coefficients ratio was fitted. The results show that the internal pressures in roof opening buildings are highly correlative and coherent, so the internal pressure coefficients in roof opening building can be described by using a unified value. The correlation coefficients between external and internal pressure coefficients are positive, and larger than those in wall opening cases. The mean external pressure coefficients around the opening multiplied by 0. 8 can be used to estimate the mean internal pressure coefficients. For single dominant opening buildings, the Helmholtz equation can be used to simulate the fluctuating internal pressure, and the estimation error is below 15% for the wind in vertical orientation. The empirical formulas about the ratio between fluctuating internal pressure and external pressure, and the ratio between peak internal pressure and external pressure were fitted with the non-dimension opening parameters, which are more effective than other methods, such as GINGER method and HOLMES method. © 2016 Chinese Vibration Engineering Society. All rights reserved.