An Experimental Investigation into Wind Effect on Tall Buildings with Pentagonal Cross Section

Abstract

The effect of wind load is one of the very significant factors in building and structure design. An investigation has been carried out into the wind effect on a Pentagonal cross-section with an open circuit wind tunnel. The experiment was conducted at a constant flow velocity of 13.2 m/s and a Reynolds number of 4.22 x 104. The test was carried out on a single cylinder positioned facing across the flow direction at various angles of attack from 0° to 72° at a step of 9°. Each face of a pentagonal cylindrical model was divided into five tapping points and connected with inclined multi-manometers using copper capillary and plastic tubes to measure the surface static pressure on the cylinder surface. Pressure coefficients were calculated from the measured surface static pressure, which was then used to estimate the drag and lift coefficients. A significant drop of 0.52 in the drag coefficient values has been observed for the single pentagonal cylinder in comparison to that of the single square cylinder. The overall lift coefficient values of the single pentagonal cylinder are found to be lower than that of a single square cylinder except at 90. The fluctuation of the lift coefficient curve has a 90 phase shift than that of the square cylinder; however, the pattern of their variations has shown a similar trend except for the angle of attack of 00. The stagnation point was identified on the front face of the pentagonal cylinder. These findings will assist engineers and architects in designing much safer buildings.