Development of Mitigation Device to Wind Risk on Urban Region

As urbanization progresses worldwide, the number of high-rise buildings is rapidly increasing, especially in large cities, and the damages from building wind are expected to increase further. In particular, strong winds in urban canyon frequently damage doors, windows and signboards, etc. There also is a risk of building exterior materials scattering due to delamination at the edges of buildings, vortex generation, and gust. Among the damage caused by the building wind, the damage by the exterior material that has been removed due to strong wind can cause not only property damage but also personal damage. Recently, concerns about the damage of building winds in urban areas on pedestrian safety and living environment are increasing, but there is very little consideration in domestic architecture and urban planning procedures. Therefore, it is very essential to reduce the possibility of delamination of exterior materials by strong wind and consequent low pressure. The purpose of this study is to develop mitigation device attached to the edges of the buildings to lower the maximum peak pressure to reduce the potential detachment of building envelope. Using CFD and experimental approach, it was found that developed device can reduce the maximum peak pressure up to 20%.

This research was supported by a grant (RS-2022-00155691) of Disaster-Safety Industry Technology Commercialization R&D Program, funded by Ministry of Interior and Safety (MOIS, Korea).