Wind-induced response reduction of a tall building with an innovative façade system

The effects of a double-skin porous façade system on the wind-induced response of the Commonwealth Advisory Aeronautical Research Council (CAARC) Standard Tall Building were investigated via a program of wind tunnel model study conducted at the China Light and Power (CLP) Power Wind/Wave Tunnel Facility at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. For reduced wind velocities ranging from about 4 to 14, the dynamic alongwind, crosswind and torsional responses of the building were reduced significantly when vertical openings were introduced to the outer skin of the double-skin façade. The reduction in crosswind response at around the critical reduced velocity associated with vortex shedding when the incident wind was normal to the windward face of the building is particularly striking. These response reductions are attributable to the disruption to the vortex shedding process caused by channelling air flow created by vertical opening(s) and the double-skin façade system. Innovative façade systems such as these can be adopted in tall building design to utilise their wind-induced response reducing aerodynamic characteristics