Pressures on a cubic building—Part 2: Quasi-steady and other processes

This paper explores the relationship between the turbulent flow within the atmospheric boundary layer and the surface pressure on a building, the Silsoe 6 m cube, immersed deep within that boundary layer. In the past, the main approach has been to examine the statistical properties of both surface pressure and boundary layer flow independently as correlations are poor. However, accepting that the statistical properties of the flow at a point within the boundary layer at a given height are invariant with location, it is then shown that the quasi-steady analytical technique can account for much of the measured surface pressure fluctuations. The simplified quasi-steady-vector model, which relates surface pressure to variations in dynamic pressure and wind direction, is shown to give close comparison with measured values for the standard deviation, the maximum and the minimum surface pressure. The remaining differences are discussed and explained.

► This paper investigates the pressures measured on a cubic building and the processes causing them. ► The mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum pressure coefficients are considered. ► The simplified quasi-steady-vector model is shown to give close comparison with measured values. ► The differences are generally limited to particular wind direction bands. ► The likely sources of these differences are identified and discussed.