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Effects Of Corner Radii On Wind Tunnel Testing Of Low-Rise Buildings, Kytin Kwan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Wind effects on buildings are commonly studied by testing 3D printed building models in a wind tunnel. A challenge with 3D printing is that the edges of these models may not be perfectly sharp, but rounded with a radius of curvature, R. It is well known that when edges are significantly rounded, the aerodynamics of the building can be altered (Robertson, 1991; Mahmood 2011), leading to inaccurate predictions of full-scale surface pressures and wind loads. However, there is presently no guidance on model edge radii prescribed in wind tunnel testing standards such as ASCE 49-12. The objective of the present …