To study the response of the CAARC standard high-rise building model under a downburst， firstly， a downburst outflow wind speed simulation test device based on a boundary layer wind tunnel was developed. The steady-state wind field and transient wind field of the downburst were simulated in the boundary layer wind tunnel， respectively. Then， a CAARC aero-elastic model with a geometric scale 1∶200 was designed and made. Finally， the wind tunnel tests of the CAARC standard high-rise building model were carried out under the downburst steady， transient wind， and type B atmospheric boundary layer wind field， respectively. The results show that the experimented steady-state wind speed profile of downburst outflow fits well with the empirical wind speed profiles. Furthermore， the characteristics of simulated downburst transient wind speeds and turbulence intensities are generally consistent with the recommended values from the existing research. Under the action of downburst steady-state and transient wind fields， the displacement time history at the top along the x and y directions fluctuate greatly， which is significantly different from that of the type B atmospheric boundary layer wind field.