Study on the size reduction factor of extreme wind pressure of facade cladding of high-rise buildings with square section

The effect of cladding panel size on the size reduction factor (SRF) of extreme area-averaging wind pressure (EAWP) on the facades of a high-rise building is often ignored in previous studies. Based on wind tunnel tests, this study investigated the horizontal and vertical correlations of wind pressure on the facade claddings of square-section high-rise buildings. Then, the influencing parameters on the SRF of the EAWP on the cladding panels were analyzed, which were the panel area, panel width, panel length and building width. The results show clear regional distinctions in the correlation of wind pressures on the building facades and the rules of the horizontal and vertical correlations are remarkably different, which causes the cladding size ratio to impact the SRF significantly. Therefore, this study suggests the use of the non-dimensional comprehensive size parameter 𝒃 𝛂𝒉 𝟏−𝛂/𝑩 (𝜶 is the fitting parameter) determined by the cladding panel horizontal size b, cladding panel vertical size h and the building width B rather than the cladding panel area to describe the variation of the EAWP. Finally, some empirical formula for the SRF of the EAWP on the cladding of a high-rise building is proposed with the nondimensional comprehensive size parameter.