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Wind and Structures Volume 12, Number 2, March 2009 , pages 151-177 DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/was.2009.12.2.151 |
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Development of devices and methods for simulation of hurricane winds in a full-scale testing facility |
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Peng Huang, Arindam Gan Chowdhury, Girma Bitsuamlak and Roy Liu
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| Abstract | ||
| The International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC) at Florida International University (FIU) is pursuing research to better understand hurricane-induced effects on residential buildings and other structures through full-scale aerodynamic and destructive testing. The full-scale 6-fan Wall of Wind (WoW) testing apparatus, measuring 4.9?m tall by 7.3?m wide, is capable of generating hurricane-force winds. To achieve windstorm simulation capabilities it is necessary to reproduce mean and turbulence characteristics of hurricane wind flows. Without devices and methods developed to achieve target wind flows, the full-scale WoW simulations were found to be unsatisfactory. To develop such devices and methods efficiently, a small-scale (1:8) model of the WoW was built, for which simulation devices were easier and faster to install and change, and running costs were greatly reduced. The application of such devices, and the use of quasiperiodic fluctuating waveforms to run the WoW fan engines, were found to greatly influence and improve the turbulence characteristics of the 1:8 scale WoW flow. Reasonable reproductions of wind flows with specified characteristics were then achieved by applying to the full-scale WoW the devices and methods found to be effective for the 1:8 scale WoW model. | ||
| Key Words | ||
| Wall of Wind; full-scale testing; hurricane simulation; turbulence characteristics; fluctuating waveform; small-scale model. | ||
| Address | ||
| Peng Huang; International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC), Florida International University, 10555 W. Flagler Street, Miami, FL 33174, USA State Key Laboratory of Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 20092, P. R. China Arindam Gan Chowdhury, Girma Bitsuamlak and Roy Liu; International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC), Florida International University, 10555 W. Flagler Street, Miami, FL 33174, USA | ||