Benchmark Study of Tornado Wind Loading on Low-Rise Buildings with Consideration of Internal Pressure
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Benchmark Study of Tornado Wind Loading on Low-Rise Buildings with Consideration of Internal Pressure by Liang Wu, B.S., M.S. A Dissertation In National Wind Institute Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Delong Zuo, Ph.D. Chair of Committee Xinzhong Chen, Dr. Eng. Christopher Weiss, Ph.D. Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School August 2019 Copyright 2019, Liang Wu Texas Tech University, Liang Wu, August 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It has been a valuable experience for me to complete my doctoral research at Texas Tech University. Along this journey, I have received more than I ever thought possible. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the people who have helped and supported me in this journey. First and foremost, I would like to express my appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Delong Zuo, who has provided continuous guidance and insightful advice for this research. His profound knowledge and enthusiastic pursuit of academic excellence has set up a great example of professionalism for me. The financial support from him throughout this study is also greatly acknowledged. I would like to extend my appreciation to my committee members, Dr. Xinzhong Chen and Dr. Christopher Weiss, for their time and suggestions for this research and thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Zhuo Tang, Dr. Changda Feng, and Mr. Deyi Xu, who have helped me a lot in preparing and conducting experiments for this research. I am also grateful to the friends I met at Texas Tech University. Last but not the least, special thanks are given to my parents and Ms. Shijin Ma. Their love and encouragement have helped me overcome many obstacles in this journey. My appreciation for them are beyond words. ii Texas Tech University, Liang Wu, August 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... vi 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Background, Methodology and Research Objectives ....................................... 1 1.2. Organization of the Dissertation ....................................................................... 6 2. CHARACTERISTICS OF TORNADO-LIKE VORTICES SIMULATED IN THE VORTECH SIMULATOR .................................................................... 7 2.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 7 2.2. Experimental Facility ........................................................................................ 8 2.2.1. Tornado Simulator ...................................................................................... 9 2.2.2. Velocity and Pressure Measurements ....................................................... 10 2.3. Estimation of Controlling Parameters ............................................................. 11 2.4. Experimental Configurations .......................................................................... 12 2.5. Characteristics of Simulated Flow and the Resultant Surface Pressure Deficit ............................................................................................................. 14 2.5.1. Effect of Swirl Ratio ................................................................................. 15 2.5.2. Effect of Radial Reynolds Number........................................................... 28 2.6. Implications from Flow and Surface Pressure Measurements ........................ 31 3. WIND TUNNEL TESTING OF A LOW-RISE BUILDING MODEL IN BOUNDARY-LAYER-TYPE FLOW ................................................................ 32 3.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 32 3.2. Experimental Setup ......................................................................................... 34 3.2.1. The Building Model .................................................................................. 35 3.2.2. Simulation of Boundary Layer Flows ...................................................... 40 3.2.3. Test Configurations .................................................................................. 44 3.3. Data Processing ............................................................................................... 46 3.4. Experimental Results ...................................................................................... 48 3.4.1. Nominally Sealed Building ...................................................................... 48 3.4.2. Building with A Dominant Opening ........................................................ 53 iii Texas Tech University, Liang Wu, August 2019 3.4.3. Building with Multiple Dominant Openings ............................................ 67 3.5. Summary ......................................................................................................... 74 4. LABORATORY TESTING OF A LOW-RISE BUILING MODEL IN TORNADO-LIKE VORTICES .......................................................................... 76 4.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 76 4.2. The Tornado Simulator ................................................................................... 77 4.3. Experimental Setup ......................................................................................... 78 4.3.1. The Building Model .................................................................................. 78 4.3.2. Tornadic Flow Field ................................................................................. 81 4.3.3. Experimental Configuration ..................................................................... 82 4.4. Data Processing ............................................................................................... 84 4.5. Data Interpretation Technique ........................................................................ 85 4.5.1. Methods .................................................................................................... 86 4.5.2. Illustrative Example .................................................................................. 88 4.6. Experimental Results ...................................................................................... 91 4.6.1. Effect of Internal Volume Augmentation ................................................. 92 4.6.2. Effect of Translation Speed ...................................................................... 97 4.6.3. Comparison between Loading by Tornadic and Boundary-layer-type Wind ....................................................................................................... 111 4.7. Summary ....................................................................................................... 119 5. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK ....................................................... 121 5.1. Conclusions ................................................................................................... 121 5.2. Future Work .................................................................................................. 122 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 124 iv Texas Tech University, Liang Wu, August 2019 ABSTRACT Tornadoes are historically among the most devastating natural hazards, and their impact on society has not subsided even with today’s rapid advancements in science and technology. In particular, tornadoes frequently cause failures of and severe damages to low-rise buildings, resulting in disastrous losses of life and property. The major reason for these failures and damages are that most buildings are not designed for tornadoes, primarily because the understanding of tornadic loading on buildings remains inadequate. This dissertation presents a comprehensive benchmark study of tornadic wind loading on low-rise buildings. In the study, a model of a full-scale building is tested in tornado-like vortices simulated in a large-scale tornado simulator. The factors that affect the tornadic loading, including the type of the tornado, the speed at which the tornado translates, and the orientation and location of the building relative to the path of the tornado, are investigated. Particular attention is placed on the internal pressure of the building during tornado passages, which can account for a large portion of the total loading on the structure, as well as the effects of the sizes and locations of large openings in the building envelope, which can be created by debris impact on the building, on the internal pressure. In consideration of the nonstationary nature of the loading by translating tornadoes, a technique based on adaptive Gaussian filtering and cross- validation is used to interpret the experimental data. In addition, to provide a context for the study of tornadic loading, a building model with the same configuration of the model tested in the tornado simulator is also tested in