Wind Tunnel Test and Numerical Simulation of Wind Loads on Low-rise Hip Roof Buildings

Wind tunnel tests on wind load characteristic of low-rise hip roof buildings were presented.The change laws of isolines of mean and fluctuating wind pressure coefficients of roof and shape coefficients of each face were obtained.The computational fluid dynamics software FLUENT was employed to numerically simulate the 3Dsteady wind flow field around test model in atmospheric boundary layer,and the numerical simulation results agreed well with the test results.Then a detailed parametric study was performed for mean wind pressure coefficients and shape coefficients of low-rise hip roof buildings under different wind direction.The parameters included roof grade,eave length,eave height and length-width ratio.The study results show that the numerical simulation is a feasible way to study wind load characteristic on low-rise hip roof buildings.The influence levels of different parameters on the wind pressure coefficient of roof are also affected by wind direction.Roof grades show more influence on both distribution and magnitude of wind pressure on hip roof.Higher negative pressure zone will be formed behind roof rigging of hip roof buildings.The absolute value of shape coefficient of windward roof of hip roof buildings is bigger than that of gable roof buildings when the roof grade is less than 35°.The shape coefficients which are obtained according to the study results provide a foundation for the engineering wind resistance design of low-rise hip roof buildings.