Influence of Surrounding Buildings on Wind Loads Acting on Low-Rise Building

A large number of wind pressure experiments have been performed to investigate the influence of surrounding buildings on wind pressures and forces on a cubical low-rise building. The primary purpose of the present work was to understand the effects of surrounding buildings and to examine methods for estimating wind loads. The considered parameters were area density and upstream distance under a turbulent boundary layer representing a suburban area. Results show that wind pressures decrease with increasing area density because of the surrounding buildings, but the variations of mean and fluctuating components within one area density are relatively small. The local wind pressure coefficients increase significantly, and this is originated from the rapid decrease in the local velocity pressure at the model position. Last, after discussing the design approach of a target low-rise building in a large group, a methodology for estimating wind loads on a target low-rise building was examined by introducing the (zoning) interference factor. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000625. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.