Wind pressures on a 6 m cube

A 6 m cube has been constructed at Silsoe Research Institute in an open country exposed position and detailed measurements have been made of surface pressure on the cube and of the wind velocities in the region around the cube. Detailed measurements have also been made of the approach flow (J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 87 (2000) 167) but are not reported here. Mean pressure coefficient data from the Silsoe 6 m cube are compared with published wind-tunnel data and with the detailed results from the Windtechnologische Gesellschaft comparative wind-tunnel testing program (J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 74–76 (1998) 599). With the wind perpendicular to one face it is shown that there is general agreement on the windward wall pressures between wind-tunnels and with the full-scale. However, roof and leeward wall pressures appear to be sensitive to approach flow conditions and scale, i.e. velocity profile, turbulence and Reynolds number. The highest suctions occur with high Reynolds number and Jensen number. With the wind at 45° to the faces the strongest roof suctions occur close to the windward edge: in this case there is better agreement between wind-tunnel results and the full-scale.