Frequency response requirements for fluctuating wind pressure measurements

The frequency response requirements for measuring fluctuating wind pressures were examined by analysing full scale data collected at the Texas Tech Wind Engineering Field Research Laboratory It was found that mean peak pressures adjacent to separation and reattachment points were attenuated when the instrumentation frequency response was below 10 Hz for mean wind speeds of 10 m/s. This corresponds to a full scale wavelength of 1 m. For pressures away from these regions and for area-averaged pressures, the cut-off wavelength was higher. A reasonable collapse of the available data for response ratios under separated flow was obtained indicating that attenuation of mean peak pressures could be expected for V/n_cB>0.1 (mean reference velocity V, cut-off frequency n_c and smallest building plan dimennsion B). These findings have implications for the frequency response of wind tunnel model studies investigating peak pressure distributions.