The Effect of Building Shape on Its Ability to Resist Hurricane Force Winds

Overview

Objectives/Goals The purpose of the experiment was to determine if the shape of a building affected its ability to resist hurricane velocity winds by utilizing a wind tunnel to test different building shapes. Methods/Materials A wind tunnel with laminar flow was constructed. A building model was placed on a rolling platform within the testing chamber of the wind tunnel. The air resistance caused the platform to roll back onto a force sensor which read the force of air resistance in Newtons. Ten trials were performed for a control and each of the 6 building models: rectangular tower (narrow face side), square tower (face side), square tower (corner/vertex side), cone, cylinder, and sphere. Results The sphere had the least amount of air resistance in proportion to its surface area (0.0006 N/cm^2) and its volume (0.00007 N/cm^3). The cylinder shaped building model had the next least resistance with 0.001 N/cm^2 and 0.0001 N/cm^3 respectively. Conclusions/Discussion The spherical and the cylindrical building designs support the initial hypothesis that a symmetrically shaped building with a curved face would best be able to resist high velocity winds.

Competition history

• CSEF 2007 Applied Mechanics & Structures · Entry S0224

Resources

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