Experimental investigation on wind loads of planar porous facades

Abstract

Porous facades have been widely used in modern architectural design recently. This paper mainly aims to gain insight into the wind actions on the planar porous facades, which would be affected by various factors, including the porosity ratio, the wind incidence angle, and the surrounding interference. Accordingly, a succession of wind tunnel tests was conducted on nine panels with porosity ratios ranging from 0% to 74.76%. The direct force measurement (DFM) method was employed by using the high-frequency force balance (HFFB) technique to attain the aerodynamic forces on the isolated porous facades and the facades with surrounding interference. The proposed estimating equations for porosity reduction factor and the wind load-distribution factor are in good agreement with the experimental results. The equations would greatly facilitate the determination of the wind loads on planar porous facades.

Keywords: porous facade, wind tunnel test, aerodynamic coefficient, wind load-distribution factor, porosity reduction factor