Wind Pressure Investigation on a Rectangular Rigid Model

An experimental testing was conducted at the NHERI University of Florida Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (BLWT) facility on a rectangular rigid model. The pressure coefficients on 510 taps were measured, considering two experimental configurations: one with an isolated model, and the other considering two additional proximity models. A total of 10 angles was measured for the isolated model configuration, and 19 angles for the proximity model configuration. The angles ranged from 0 to 90 degrees and 0 to 180 degrees, respectively, with increments of 10 degrees between measurements. A total of 5 repetitions with duration of about 15 minutes in model scale were collected for each wind direction. A cobra probe was placed upstream the model at the model height to measure the reference wind speed during the experiments. The terraformer elements were placed uniformly at 160mm height to ensure roughness corresponding to Exposure B (suburban). The flow is driven by 8 vaneaxial fans set to 1200 RPM and Marine Spires.