Measurements on the surface wind pressure characteristics of a thousand-meter scale megatall building by wind tunnel test

Abstract This paper investigates the wind pressure distribution of a thousand-meter scale megatall building through a wind tunnel test. One key challenge is that the power-law wind profiles are not applicable due to the height limitation. Therefore, a mesoscale meteorological model WRFv3.4 (Weather Research & Forecasting Model) was used to explore the wind profile covering the height of the thousand-meter scale megatall building. Then the wind profile was reproduced in the wind tunnel representing the actual vertical distribution of wind speed by a passive simulation method, and thereby the wind pressure test was conducted in the wind tunnel. Moreover, to investigate the effect of the inlet wind profile on the wind pressure, a wind tunnel test using the power-law wind profile was carried out for comparison as well. It was revealed that the wind pressure distribution was greatly influenced by the inlet wind profile, which should be investigated with accuracy in the wind tunnel.