WIND COMFORT PREDICTIONS BY WIND-TUNNEL TESTS - COMPARISON WITH FULL-SCALE DATA

Two studies were carried out in order to acquire more knowledge on the reliability of the method used by TNO to predict the wind climate around buildings. The first was a complex situation of a relatively low building in a complex environment of wooded areas and trees. The second related to the results of full-scale measurements at the base of a high-rise building under construction and a comparison with wind tunnel testing. It is found that the wind tunnel method generally gives a reliable prediction of the full-scale wind climate, both for low and high-rise buildings and for situations with and without vegetation. The wooded areas and trees around the low building complex were simulated with pieces of gauze with a permeability of 57%. This simulation is in good agreement with the winter period. The agreement with the summer period is less good. However, because of the frequency distribution of high wind velocities over the seasons, this simulation also gives a sufficiently reliable approximation of the yearly averaged wind climate.