A study of downburst-induced wind loading on buildings

Downburst produces strong winds near ground and causes severe damage to buildings and people. However, few studies have focused on the downburst flow field and downburst-induced loads on buildings. Thus, the present study attempts to understand the characteristics of downburst and its effects on buildings, based on experiment and numerical simulation. An experimental facility generating a pulsed wall jet has been developed. Large eddy simulation (LES) has also been conducted. First, the unsteady downburst flow field was simulated and compared with the experimental results to validate the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling. Then, a simulation of non-isothermal flow was conducted to understand the characteristics of practical downbursts. Based on the results of experiment and CFD simulation, the characteristics of downburst-induced wind loading on a square building were investigated. Finally, a discussion was made of the evaluation of the design wind loads for downbursts.