A computer program for an equation of wind velocity profiles from zero to thirty feet

Years of research have been devoted to the understanding of the structure and nature of natural wind and to the development of theories which can be applied to the design of buildings and other structures. Extensive studies of the velocity profile of wind have been made from the ground to the stratosphere, but investigators have concentrated on the winds above thirty feet. It has been from the studies in excess of thirty feet that the most recent concepts for deriving design velocities have been obtained. Structures used in agricultural enterprises are usually low-profile structures being located in the lower thirty feet of the atmosphere. For this reason, this investigation was undertaken to measure the wind velocities in the lower thirty feet of the atmosphere and to develop a computer program whose output would be an equation for the vertical profile of the measured wind velocities. It was felt that this information would be of great value in the study of wind pressure distributions on a prototype building, and also in the wind tunnel model tests of the prototype. Velocity measurements were made with four pitot tubes mounted on a thirty-foot mast at intervals of eight feet along the mast. Velocity pressures were recorded instantaneously from all the pitot tubes by an oscillograph. The data recorded were entered into a computer program for multiple regression coefficients. The output was the intercept, K, and the slope, 1/α, for a velocity profile with an equation of the general form, V = KZ^1/α Where: V = velocity at height Z, K = intercept, 1/α = slope. The statistical analysis on the fit of the profile equation, obtained from the computer, to the velocities recorded for this investigation showed a high significance value. It was concluded that wind velocity measurements could be obtained by pitot tubes with reasonable accuracy in the lower thirty feet of the atmosphere, and that these velocity data could be entered into a computer program which would yield an output of a velocity profile equation that could be used with confidence.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Agricultural Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Agricultural Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Year dc:date.issued

1966

Author dc:creator

• Ogburn, Charles Brame

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/101380

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/101380