Full-Scale Wind Engineering Measurements in New Zealand

The aim of the research described in this paper is to measure the wind to better understand it, so that it can be modelled correctly in predictions, and to learn how the wind excites tall buildings. The paper describes two research projects of full-scale wind engineering measurements. One research project captured wind speeds from tower-mounted anemometers in complex terrain which have beencompared with predictions from CFD, wind tunnel measurements and the Australian/New Zealand Standard. The other research project measured the motion of four different tall buildings in Wellington and Auckland and compared those motions with predictions from wind tunnel measurements and the Standard. The research found that the wind tunnel modelling and CFD code Gerris gave results which agreed well with the observations, but that the AS/NZS1170.2 wind speed-up predictions differed significantly when carried out by different organisations. It was found that the building motion could be predicted reasonably accurately using a simple predictive equation based on building properties and the one-year return period design gust wind speed from AS/NZS1170.2.