Date/Time
Date(s) - 12/08/2021
12:50 PM - 1:40 PM
Categories
Zoom Link: https://ufl.zoom.us/j/5133689106
Equivalent Turbulence Profiles from Randomized Terrain in Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel
Speaker: Mariel Ojeda-Tuz, Ph. D. Student, Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
ABSTRACT:
Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (BLWT) facilities are commonly used for assessing wind loads on structures. Although BLWT facilities routinely match 1st and 2nd-order wind field models, evidence suggests that turbulence in the roughness sublayer and the inertial sublayer exhibit non-Gaussian higher-order properties. These non-Gaussian properties can influence peak wind pressures, which govern certain structural limit states and play an important role in design.
This research project investigates whether commonly achieved matching of first and second order turbulence profiles in BLWT flow is sufficient for producing consistent peak wind pressures. The hypothesis is that multiple roughness element configurations can produce equivalent second-order wind fields, but differing higher-order properties that may produce non-equivalent peak loads. This study harnesses the recent availability of two main tools: the University of Florida Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (Fig. 1) and a Machine Learning algorithm that, when used in tandem, improve the efficient high-volume throughput of experimental wind tunnel investigations.
SPEAKER’s Biosketch:
Mariel Ojeda-Tuz joined the Ph.D. program in structural engineering at the University of Florida (UF) in the fall 2018. Her research is focused on the non-Gaussian properties of the boundary layer and its influence in the wind peak pressures. Prior enrolling at UF as a graduate student, she received the Fulbright Garcia-Robles scholarship to conduct her Ph. D. in the University of Florida. Mariel worked as lecturer at the College of Engineering of the Autonomous University of Yucatan, Mexico where also received her B.S. in Civil Engineering in 2013 and her M.S. in Structural Engineering in 2016.