This work focuses on the full-scale gust buffeting response of an isolated wind turbine tower (without
rotor-nacelle assembly) about 116 m tall placed at Østerild Test Center (Denmark). It aims to clarify the reliability of
analytical models behind design standards through the analysis of combined measurements of wind and structural
response. The tower was instrumented with strain gauges mounted close to the base, which indirectly measured the
bending moment (net of the mean component), and an accelerometer at about the top. Wind data, mostly velocity
and direction at different heights, were recorded by nearby meteorological masts, and they are used to characterize
the wind environment in terms of mean velocity profile, turbulence intensity, power spectral density, integral length
scale, and coherence of velocity fluctuations. Mild wind conditions, differently from severe conditions, result not well
described by the formulations provided by design standards, whereas the coherence function exhibits a disagreement
with theoretical models also at high wind velocities. The measured along-wind and across-wind response (in terms of
bending moment) is compared with the values got from the direct implementation of gust buffeting theory for line
like structures, by using the actual wind characteristics. While a good agreement is found for the along-wind
response, especially for the upper bound of the estimated structural damping, the across-wind response significantly
deviates from a pure gust buffeting response even at high wind velocity, well above the expected lock-in range. Clear
nonlinear aeroelastic response features are highlighted in those cases. Moreover, a comparison with common design
standards is developed for the along-wind response, which is significantly underestimated in mild wind conditions.
