Wind Effect Analysis of a High-rise Ancient Wooden Tower with a Particular Architectural Profile via Wind Tunnel Test

Wooden architectural heritage is a symbol of architectural heritage worldwide and has high historical, cultural, and scientific values in Asia countries (e.g., China, Japan, Korea, and Nepal). Wooden pagoda (a kind of tower with multiple eaves in East Asia) serving as one important member of wooden architectural heritages suffers from damages that are caused in various natural disasters such as windstorm, fire, and earthquake due to its long-time service and considerable size. Wind caused damage is one of the most common damages caused by natural disasters, making the structural safety of high-rise wooden pagodas under wind action a major concern in architectural heritage protection. This study analyzes the wind effects on the Yingxian wooden pagoda in China by a wind tunnel test and computes the wind loads on the wooden pagoda. The wind characteristics of wooden the pagoda in a wind tunnel test are presented and compared with modern buildings and other types of wooden architectural heritages. Additionally, this study attempts to analyze the difference of the computed wind loads from the wind tunnel test and from the full-scale measurement. The results reveal that the wind pressure distribution at certain locations are similar to those of modern buildings or other ancient wooden architectures. However, the wind pressure distribution at some locations are distinctive due to the complexity of the architectural profile (e.g., the boundary of the pagoda is an octagon in bird view). The wind load from wind tunnel test are in good agreement with those in full-scale measurement with less than 14% error. This study extends the understanding of the wind effects and structural safety assessment on the high-rise wooden pagoda, providing useful guidelines for structural design (e.g., wind-resistant design) and for structural health monitoring (e.g., service maintenance) to monitor not just the specific wooden pagoda but also other high-rise pagodas, especially the those with top views of octagonal shapes.