Effect of turbulent integral scale on non-Gaussian characteristics of surface wind pressure on square cylinder

Abstract

This study investigated the statistical properties of the pressure fluctuations on a square cylinder across three distinct turbulence fields characterized by varying turbulent integral scales. The effect of turbulent integral scale on the non-Gaussian characteristics and extreme surface wind pressure acting on square cylinders beneath the separating flow were studied in detail. The findings indicated that the pressure distribution on the windward surface generally conformed to a Gaussian distribution, whereas notable non-Gaussian characteristics were observed in the pressure distribution on the side and leeward surfaces. The fluctuating pressure, skewness, kurtosis, peak factor, and extreme pressure increase with an increasing ratio of turbulent integral scale to structural depth (Lux/D), whereas the mean pressure remains unaffected by variations in Lux/D. As Lux increased, the energy of the internal vortices in the shear layer also increased. As a result, the non-Gaussian features of the pressure caused by vortex breakdown become more pronounced. Compared with Lux/D = 1.96, the underestimated value of the extreme pressure on the square cylinder had a maximum difference of up to 15.4% at Lux/D = 0.53. Therefore, the corresponding turbulent integral scale should be accurately simulated when measuring wind loading on a structure through wind tunnel tests.