J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn.

99 (2011) 682–690

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Wind Engineering

and Industrial Aerodynamics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jweia

Wind action on regular and irregular tall buildings: Higher order moment
statistical analysis by HFFB and SMPSS measurements
F. Cluni a,, V. Gusella a, S.M.J. Spence a, G. Bartoli b
a
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 93, 06125 Perugia, Italy
b
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Firenze, Via di Santa Marta 3, 50139 Firenze, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 21 April 2011 In this paper the results of experimental tests in a boundary layer wind tunnel aimed at direct
Keywords: comparison of the two main methods used to estimate the wind loads acting on tall buildings are
Tall buildings presented. The tests were performed on two different models of tall buildings: a regular one with a
Wind tunnel testing prismatic shape; an irregular one whose external shape was inspired by that of Bank of China Tower in
High frequency force balance (HFFB) Hong Kong. The two models have the same square footprint and height. The two methods used to
Synchronous multi-pressure sensing measure the wind effects were: the high frequency force balance, which allows to directly measure the
system (SMPSS) global base reactions (two forces in the plane of the base, the two overturning moments and the
Wind effects torsional moment around the vertical axis); the synchronous multi-pressure sensing system, which
measures the pressure in several points on the surface of the model, and allows, by means of numerical
integration, to estimate both the floor loads and the base reactions. In order to perform a comparison
between the results obtained by the high frequency force balance and synchronous multi-pressure
sensing system a statistical analysis of the results was carried out; in particular, higher order moments
were investigated. Moreover the spectra and the correlation structure of the loads were studied.
& 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
In last decades a large number of non-prismatic and irregular
tall buildings have been proposed and built. The shape of these
buildings makes them more sensitive to wind excitation than
those with a regular shape. In fact, the irregular distribution of
wind pressure on the surface involves significant coupled lateral
and torsional effects (Chan et al., 2010) and requires to accurately
describe the external pressure field acting on these increasingly
irregular bluff bodies (Chen and Kareem, 2005). Moreover, there is
a need to estimate both the cladding loads and global loading
schemes, necessary for the design of the main structure, which
are capable of accurately estimating any number of generalized
forces within the framework of modal analysis (Simiu, 1976;
Kareem, 1981; Huang and Chen, 2007). Since the design codes do
not allow the estimation of wind effects on buildings with
significantly irregular geometries, but only on those with simple
shapes such as the prismatic building of this work, experimental
tests in wind tunnels are in general necessary. To this end, two
methods may be adopted in specific experimental wind tunnel
tests in order to estimate the wind action on rigid models of the
 Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: cluni@strutture.unipg.it (F. Cluni), guse@unipg.it (V. Gusella),
spence@strutture.unipg.it (S.M.J. Spence), gbartoli@dicea.unifi.it (G. Bartoli).
actual building, namely the high frequency force balance (HFFB)
method and the synchronous multi-pressure sensing system
(SMPSS) technique.
The HFFB method was developed starting from the work
of Davenport and Tschanz (1981). It consists in measuring the global
forces acting on the building by using a force balance at the base of
the model. This technique is particularly appealing, especially from a
practical viewpoint, since it is very easy to implement and gives
accurate results in terms of base resultants. The main assumption of
the method is that the mean and dynamic loads and response may be
estimated by means of analytical and/or empirical models calibrated
to the base reactions measured in wind tunnel tests carried out on a
lightweight and rigid model characterizing exclusively the external
shape of the actual building (Tse et al., 2008). It should also be
pointed out that the HFFB method was mainly developed for
buildings with uncoupled linear mode shapes, therefore the presence
of coupled non-linear mode shapes can cause significant complica-
tions (Holmes, 2001; Chen and Kareem, 2005; Tse et al., 2009), as can
the inclusion of higher mode contributions (modes other than the
first three) to the response which can be significant in some cases
(Spence, 2009).
An alternative approach is to measure the pressure field on the
external surface of the building by means of a SMPSS setup. This
consists in measuring the pressure in several points of the external
surface of the model by means of pressure taps. From the measured
pressure it is possible to estimate the aerodynamic forces acting

0167-6105/$ - see front matter & 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.jweia.2011.01.020
 F. Cluni et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 682–690 683

locally and by means of integration the global forces acting on the
building may be estimated. By integrating exclusively over the taps
which contribute to a specific floor, the wind loads acting on that
floor may be estimated. Because the floor loads may be estimated,
this method obviously allows for the direct estimation of any number
of the generalized modal forces including any coupling effects or non-
linearity seen in the mode shapes. The drawback of this approach is
that a large number of pressure taps are necessary to accurately
estimate the forces. This can become prohibitive especially in the
presence of complicated geometric forms where it can become
practically impossible to place the pressure taps.
The aim of this paper is to present the results obtained in wind
tunnel tests on both regular and irregular building models, by
using both HFFB and SMPSS setups. The models used for the
measurements with the HFFB and SMPSS were the same, so a
direct comparison of the results obtained with the two methods is
possible. In particular, a statistical analysis including higher order
moments was performed and the presence of non-Gaussian
effects was investigated. This information is not only important
for accurately calibrating load models to be used for simulations
(Gioffre et al., 2001), but also in the calibration of appropriate
peak factor models capable of including non-Gaussian effects
(Gioffre et al., 2000; Gioffre and Gusella, 2007). Moreover, the
spectra obtained with the two methods were evaluated. The
correlation structure of the forces acting at different floor levels
was studied in the case of the SMPSS measurements. In this way
the possibility to generate artificial wind pressure fields with the
same non-Gaussian stochastic characteristics as experimentally
determined can be explored with the aim of eventually perform-
ing Monte-Carlo simulations (Popescu et al., 1996).
Two versions of each model were used. The first one, used
during the SMPSS measurements, was realized in a plastic
material with internal wood frame stiffeners and instrumented
with 287 (irregular model) and 315 (regular model) pressure
taps; each tap has about the same tributary area; the number of
pressure taps exceeds the number of available acquisition chan-
nels (126) since the model was designed so that several layouts of
pressure measurements were possible, Spence (2009); in the
work presented in this paper, the layout which allows the
measurement of the overall forces acting on the model was used.
The second type of model was used in the HFFB measurements
and was constructed using steel sheets.
The global reference system and the definition of wind direc-
tion is shown in Fig. 2.
The global forces at the base of the model measured during the
tests were Fx, Fy, Mx, My and Mz. The torsional moment, Mz, was
not considered in the present study which is focused on the
comparison between the base shear forces and bending moments.
In representing the results of the statistical analysis, the force
and moment coefficients, defined respectively by
Fl
CFl ¼ 2
with l ¼ x,y ð1Þ
1
r
2 a BHU
Ml
CMl ¼ with l ¼ x,y ð2Þ
1 2 2
r
2 a BH U
were used, where r is the air density, B is the width of the model
(103 mm), H is the height of the model (610 mm), U is the mean
wind speed at the buildings’ top.

2.1. SMPSS measurements

2. The experimental tests
The pressure field was measured by means of the pressure
The experimental tests were carried out at the boundary layer taps. Only 126 taps were simultaneously recorded due to limita-
wind tunnel of CRIACIV (Inter-University Research Center in tions in the acquisition hardware. The global forces acting on the
Building Aerodynamics and Wind Engineering) in Prato, Italy. model were estimated by means of the following relationships:
Two different models were used for each experimental setup.
One of the models was the 1:500 scaled reproduction of the X
N
Fx ¼ pi Ai nix ð3Þ
external surface of Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong. The base of
i¼1
the model had dimensions of 103 mm  103 mm; the height of
the model was 610 mm. The other had a regular prismatic profile X
N
with the same square footprint and height of the previous model. Fy ¼ pi Ai niy ð4Þ
The two models are shown in Fig. 1. i¼1

Fig. 1. Experimental models: regular model for the HFFB measurements (a) and irregular model for the SMPSS measurements (b).
684 F. Cluni et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 682–690

Table 1
Mean values of global forces at various wind speed for HFFB measurements on
regular model at 01 wind direction.

U (m s  1) C Fx C Fy C Mx C My

7.68 0.829 0.096  0.081 0.539

9.02 0.855 0.081  0.055 0.552
12.03 0.833 0.054  0.066 0.545
15.04 0.815 0.042  0.068 0.541
18.09 0.800 0.033  0.070 0.539
21.12 0.781 0.031  0.071 0.532
24.09 0.783 0.030  0.074 0.537
Fig. 2. Direction of the wind for the regular (a) and irregular (b) model. 27.14 0.789 0.019  0.072 0.543

X
N
Mx ¼  pi Ai hi niy ð5Þ
i¼1

X
N
My ¼ pi Ai hi nix ð6Þ
i¼1

where pi, Ai and hi are the pressure, influence area and height of
tap i, nix and niy are the direction cosines of the normal to the
surface at i.
Each piezoelectric pressure transducer was controlled through
a peripheral scanner by a pressure system unit for calibration,
acquisition, and analogical-to-digital conversion of the data.
The tests were performed by recording pressure fluctuation
time histories for a duration of 30 s and a sampling frequency of
250 Hz. In the case of the irregular building the measurements Fig. 3. Spectrum of Fx for the maximum and minimum values of wind speed range.
were repeated with 101 increments for wind directions from 01 to
3601 and adding the directions 451, 1351, 2251 and 3151 for a total resonant peak due to the finite stiffness of the model—force balance
of 40 wind directions. In the case of the regular building the system is evident. For this reason, in the tests reported in the
pressure field was estimated for a total of 10 wind directions following a mean wind speed of around 8 m s  1 was considered.
(from 01 to 901 with increment 101 and adding 451); other In order to allow comparisons of data acquired with the HFFB and
directions may be obtained considering the symmetry conditions. data acquired with the SMPSS, the latter were scaled by a factor
In the tests, a wind speed of around 20 m s  1 at roof level was proportional to the square of the wind speed used in each method.
used while, at the same level, the longitudinal turbulence inten- In particular, denoting with the apexes SP and FB the generic
sity was estimated as Iu ¼0.04. Tests have been performed with a quantity R measured with the SMPSS and the HFFB, respectively,
mean wind profile characterized by a roughness length and with the apexes SP0 the scaled value of SMPSS measurements:
z0 ¼0.0022 m (about 1.1 m at full scale), thus reproducing the !
FB 2
mean wind profile typical of the center of a large town. SP u SP U
R ¼R SP
ð7Þ
U
2.2. HFFB measurements
where U is the mean wind speed during the tests.
The global forces acting at the base of the buildings were
directly measured by the force balance. The balance used strain 3. Statistical analysis
gages mounted on extremely stiff supporting arms that connect
the measurement base to the external ring. The tests were The acquired data were elaborated in order to obtain the first
performed by recording time histories for a duration of 60 s and four statistical moments of the generic measured quantity R,
a sampling frequency of 1000 Hz. The same wind directions that defined as
were used in SMPSS measurements were adopted.
In order to assess possible Reynolds’ effects on the measured 1X N
mðRÞ ¼ R ð8Þ
forces, preliminary tests on the regular model at a fixed wind Ni¼1 i
direction of 01 and different mean wind speed U were performed: vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u N
the results are shown in Table 1 in terms of mean values of the u1 X
sðRÞ ¼ t ðR mðRÞÞ2 ð9Þ
acquired data, C Fx , C Fy , C Mx , C My . Ni¼1 i
A mean value of 0.80 can be estimated for CFx.
The mean value of CMy is about 0.54 and CMy =CFx ¼ My =ðH Fx Þ 1 X
N
skðRÞ ¼ 3
ðRi mðRÞÞ3 ð10Þ
ffi 2=3, i.e. the overall force can be considered to be applied at 2/3 N sðRÞ i¼1
of the buildings’ height.
In order to assess the reliability of the HFFB measurements in 1 X
N

the dynamic range, the spectra of the global forces acting on the kuðRÞ ¼ 4
ðRi mðRÞÞ4 ð11Þ
NsðRÞ i¼1
model have been evaluated. In particular in Fig. 3 the spectra of Fx
are shown for both low and high values of the mean wind speed. where R can be any of the following CFx, CFy, CMx, or CMy.
As expected, at higher wind speeds the peak of the spectra moves The results are shown in Figs. 4–9. It is worth noting that the
to a higher frequency range, while the contribution to the variance of results obtained for the regular building are redundant, since the
higher frequencies increases. Moreover, at high wind speeds a results obtained for Fx and angle a are the same as those obtained
 F. Cluni et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 682–690
for Fy and angle 903 a, and those obtained for Mx and angle a are
the same as those obtained for  My and angle 903 a, however, in
this way the repeatability of the results can be assessed. Follow-
ing these considerations, only the results for Fx and My are
reported for the regular model.
As is evident from the figures, the results obtained with the
HFFB are in good agreement with those obtained with the SMPSS,
particularly for the first two statistical moments.
The mean values obtained for the irregular building are similar
to those of the regular building, especially for an angle of attack in
the range of 7 603 , i.e. when the wind hits the highest facade of
the irregular model, as shown in Fig. 10 for CFx.
Moreover, in the case of higher order moments, the agreement is
very good in terms of the skewness of the irregular building while for
Fig. 4. Statistical analysis for CFx on the regular model: mean (a), standard
deviation (b), skewness (c) and kurtosis (d).
685
the base shears, Fx and Fy, of the regular model the results are more
scattered for wind impinging the building in directions not orthogo-
nal to the building faces. This may be due to the effect of the rather
small number of pressure taps, which tends to overestimate the
contribution of lower part of the building when global forces are
estimated. Indeed by observing the moments Mx and My it can be
seen how the scattering is reduced.
The agreement between the two methods of measurement is
also good in terms of kurtosis. Both methods seem to give the
same relation between the fourth order moment and the angle of
the impinging wind (except for some angles which are probably
associated with a bad data set).
The results seem to suggest that the global aerodynamic
behavior of tall buildings is not perfectly Gaussian, with values of
Fig. 5. Statistical analysis for CMy on the regular model: mean (a), standard
deviation (b), skewness (c) and kurtosis (d).
686 F. Cluni et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 682–690
Fig. 6. Statistical analysis for CFx on the irregular model: mean (a), standard
deviation (b), skewness (c) and kurtosis (d).
skewness around 0.4 and kurtosis around 3.4. This result is particu-
larly interesting as it is common practice to model the global
aerodynamic response as Gaussian even though it is known
that the local aerodynamic response in terms of the surface
pressures is significantly non-Gaussian (Gioffre et al., 2001). More-
over, the use of the HFFB or SMPSS seems to be equivalent in terms of
base loads.
4. Spectral analysis
The recorded data were analyzed to obtain the spectra of the
base loads. In particular, by taking into account the considerations
of Section 3 about the symmetry of the regular model and the
Fig. 7. Statistical analysis for CMx on the irregular model: mean (a), standard
deviation (b), skewness (c) and kurtosis (d).
more important effect of the taps on the lower portion on forces
rather than moments, the following spectra are considered:
 My and Mx on the regular building for 0 1, corresponding to along-
and across-wind response respectively, shown in Fig. 11;
 Mx for 01 and 1801 and My for 901 and 2701 on the irregular
building, corresponding to across-wind response, shown in Fig. 12;
the along-wind spectra for the irregular model are not shown
since they are very similar to the one of the regular building.
As can be observed, the spectra obtained with the HFFB and the
SMPSS are in good agreement between themselves and with
those available in literature. As is to be expected, in the case of
the across wind spectra there is a peak in the spectrum of Mx, due
 F. Cluni et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 682–690 687

Fig. 8. Statistical analysis for CFy on the irregular model: mean (a), standard
deviation (b), skewness (c) and kurtosis (d). Fig. 9. Statistical analysis for CMy on the irregular model: mean (a), standard
deviation (b), skewness (c) and kurtosis (d).

to vortex shedding, at a reduced frequency of about:

f B
ffi 0:1 ð12Þ
U

where B is the width of the model orthogonal to the wind

direction.
It should also be noted that, in the case of the irregular model,
the across-wind response depends on the direction of the wind. In
fact, the peak corresponding to vortex shedding becomes less
pronounced. This is due to the lack of symmetry and the peculiar
shape of the faces of the building, with the upper portion of the
model having smaller width and the shape of cross-section
transforming from a square into a triangle. Fig. 10. Comparison of mðCFx Þ for the regular and irregular building.
688 F. Cluni et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 682–690

Fig. 11. Spectra of My (along-wind) (a) and Mx (across-wind) (b) for the regular
model at 01.

5. Correlation analysis

By using the SMPSS measurements, an analysis of the correla-

tion structure of the wind loads acting at different levels on the
structure was carried out. A total of nine levels was considered in
the case of the regular building and eight levels in the case of the
irregular building.
The correlation coefficient between the quantities Ri and Rj,
measured at levels i and j respectively, was estimated as
Cij
ccðRi , Rj Þ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð13Þ
Cii Cjj
where:
1XN
Cij ¼ ðRi mðRi ÞÞðRjk mðRj ÞÞ ð14Þ
Nk¼1 k

The correlation analysis took into consideration two different

characteristics:

 correlation between the components Fx and Fy acting at the

same level;
 correlation of load (Fx or Fy) between different levels.

5.1. Along- and across-wind components Fig. 12. Spectra for across-wind moment in irregular building: 01 (a), 901 (b), 1801
(c), 2701 (d).

In Figs. 13 and 14 the correlations of wind loads Fx and Fy for each

floor of the regular and irregular models, respectively, are shown.
As expected, the correlation coefficients tend to zero for wind
blowing in direction 01, 901, 1801 and 2701, as these are the loads
corresponding to along- and across-wind. Moreover, in the case of the
regular model, the loads have correlation coefficients, which assume
their largest values (in modulus) when the wind approaches the
model at quarter directions.
5.2. Correlation of loads along the height
In Figs. 15–18 the correlations of wind load for the regular and
irregular model and for wind angles of 01, 901, 1801 and 2701
are shown.
In these figures the upper triangular part shows the correlation
coefficients in the case of the regular building, while the lower
triangular part reports the same correlation for the irregular
building.
Obviously, the correlations for both the along- and across-
wind response do not depend on the wind direction in the case of
the regular building. In the case of the irregular building however,
the correlations are sensitive to the direction of the wind and
quite different from that of the regular building under the same
conditions.
These figures allow the estimation of the effect of the non-
regularity of the geometry on the stochastic pressure field. For
 F. Cluni et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 99 (2011) 682–690
Fig. 13. Correlation coefficients between Fx and Fy at different levels of the
regular model.
Fig. 14. Correlation coefficients between Fx and Fy at different levels of the
irregular model.
Fig. 15. Correlation coefficients for Fx (along-wind) (a) and Fy (across-wind)
(b) loads at 01.
Fig. 16. Correlation coefficients for Fy (along-wind) (a) and Fx (across-wind)
(b) loads at 901.
example, the loss of correlation can be appreciated for the across-
wind load of the irregular building for a ¼ 1803 due to the decoupling
of vortex structure caused by the geometry of the building.
6. Concluding remarks
The results of experimental wind tunnel tests carried out in a
boundary layer tunnel, performed to estimate the wind action on
689
Fig. 17. Correlation coefficients for Fx (along-wind) (a) and Fy (across-wind)
(b) loads at 1801.
Fig. 18. Correlation coefficients for Fy (along-wind) (a) and Fx (across-wind)
(b) loads at 2701.
regular and irregular tall buildings, have been presented. Two
experimental techniques have been compared: the high fre-
quency force balance (HFFB), and the synchronous multi-pressure
sensing system (SMPSS). The results of these tests allowed for the
characterization of the overall base action and, in case of the
SMPSS, the estimation of the stochastic structure of the pressure
fields, highlighting their non-Gaussian nature.
In particular, the results obtained by the two investigated techni-
ques show very good agreement when dealing with both regular and
irregular buildings. While this result may have been expected for the
regular prismatic building, the result is not so obvious for the
irregular building, where a considerably higher number of measure-
ment points is generally required in order to get a good description of
the pressure field over the building. Concerning the global aerody-
namic response features, an important result highlighted in this study
is the presence of significant non-Gaussian features in the base
reactions. This is seen for both the integration of the SMPSS results
as for their direct estimation through the HFFB with good agreement
between the two methods. This result rises the question of whether it
is correct to consider, as is usually done, the structural response of tall
buildings Gaussian in nature. Moreover, it was seen how the base
resultant forces between the two buildings are quite similar, this
highlighting that, at least for a certain degree of irregularity, as a first
approximation the forces on the irregular building could be estimated
by starting from the values of an equivalent regular building.
Acknowledgments
This research was partially supported by the Italian Ministry of
Education, University and Scientific Research, within the PRIN07
project ‘‘Wind effects on slender structures: Performance-based
Optimal Design (Wi-POD)’’.
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