Interference excitation mechanisms on a 3DOF aeroelastic CAARC building model

A comprehensive wind tunnel test program was conducted to investigate interference excitation mechanisms on translational and torsional responses of an identical pair of tall buildings. Motion responses of a three-degree-of-freedom aeroelastic building model were measured. Both upstream and downstream interference effects were studied in this research. The experimental results showed that with an open terrain wind model, both dynamic translational and dynamic torsional responses generally increased under interference effects for an operating reduced wind velocity of 6. Measured response spectra indicated that amplified along-wind, crosswind and torsional responses were largely induced by the wake of an upstream interfering building. The significance of interference effects and the dominant interference mechanisms depended upon the location of the aeroelastic model in the wake region. Furthermore, coupled translational–torsional motion of the aeroelastic building model tested was found to cause only small increases in the resultant motions at the building corner.