Wind tunnel study on fluctuating internal pressure of open building induced by tangential flow

This paper describes a wind tunnel test on a 1:25 scale model of TTU building with several adjustable openings in order to comprehensively study the characteristics of fluctuating internal pressures, especially the phenomenon of the increase in fluctuating internal pressures induced by tangential flow over building openings and the mechanism causing that. The effects of several factors, such as wind angle, turbulence intensity, opening location, opening size, opening shape and background porosity on the fluctuating internal pressures at oblique wind angles are also described. It has been found that there is a large increase in the fluctuating internal pressures at certain oblique wind angles (typically around 60 degrees to 80 degrees). These fluctuations are greater than those produced by the flow normal to the opening when the turbulence intensity is low. It is demonstrated that the internal pressure resonances induced by the external pressure fluctuations emanating from flapping shear layers on the sidewall downstream of the windward corner are responsible for the increase in the fluctuating internal pressures. Furthermore, the test results show that apart from the opening shape, all the other factors influence the fluctuating internal pressures and the internal pressure resonances at oblique wind angles to varying degrees.