• Wind and Structures
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2011

Open frame structures, such as those commonly found in industrial process facilities, are often densely occupied with process related equipment. This paper presents a method for estimating wind loads for high-solidity open frame structures that differs from current approaches, which accumulate wind load contributions from various individual structure components. The method considers the structure as a porous block of arbitrary plan dimension that is subject to wind from any direction. The proposed method compares favorably with wind tunnel test results for similar structures. The possibility of defining an upper bound force coefficient is also discussed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.191-211
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• 2015

Several frameworks for the dynamic analysis of wind-vehicle-bridge systems were presented in the past decade to study the safety or ride comfort of road vehicles as they pass through bridges under crosswinds. The wind loads on the vehicles were generally formed based on the aerodynamic parameters of the stationary vehicles on the ground, and the wind loads for the pure bridge decks without the effects of road vehicles. And very few studies were carried out to explore the dynamic effects of the aerodynamic interference between road vehicles and bridge decks, particularly for the moving road vehicles. In this study, the aerodynamic parameters for both the moving road vehicle and the deck considering the mutually-affected aerodynamic effects are formulized firstly. And the corresponding wind loads on the road vehicle-bridge system are obtained. Then a refined analytical framework of the WVB system incorporating the resultant wind loads, a driver model, and the road roughness in plane to fully consider the lateral motion of the road vehicle under crosswinds is proposed. It is shown that obvious lateral and yaw motions of the road vehicle occur. For the selected single road vehicle passing a long span bridge, slight effects are caused by the aerodynamic interference between the moving vehicle and deck on the dynamic responses of the system.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.177-191
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• 2000

This paper presents an approach for evaluating directionality effects for both wind speeds and wind loads in hurricane-prone regions. The focus of this study is on directional wind loads on low-rise structures. Using event-based simulation, hurricane directionality effects are determined for an open-terrain condition at various locations in the southeastern United States. The wind speed (or wind load) directionality factor, defined as the ratio of the N-year mean recurrence interval (MRI) wind speed (or wind load) in each direction to the non-directional N-year MRI wind speed (or wind load), is less than one but increases toward unity with increasing MRI. Thus, the degree of conservatism that results from neglecting directionality effects decreases with increasing MRI. It may be desirable to account for local exposure effects (siting effects such as shielding, orientation, etc.) in design. To account for these effects in a directionality adjustment, the factor described above for open terrain would need to be transformed to other terrains/exposures. A "local" directionality factor, therefore, must effectively combine these two adjustments (event directionality and siting or local exposure directionality). By also considering the direction-specific aerodynamic coefficient, a direction-dependent wind load can be evaluated. While the data necessary to make predictions of directional wind loads may not routinely be available in the case of low-rise structures, the concept is discussed and illustrated in this paper.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.203-214
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• 2024

Large-span cantilevered roof represents a unique type of structure that is vulnerable to wind loads. Inspired by the need to maximumly reducing the rooftop wind loads, this study examined the feasibility of positioning vented slots on the leading edge, and the effectiveness of such aerodynamic mitigation measures are assessed via both physical and numerical simulations. The reliability of numerical simulation was evaluated via comparisons with the wind tunnel tests. The results indicated that, the variation of venting hole arrangement can cause significant change in the rooftop wind load characteristics. For the cases involved in this study, the maximum reduction of mean and peak wind suction coefficients are found to be 9% and 8% as compared to the original circular slot without venting holes. In addition, the effect of slot shape is also evident. It was shown that the triangular shaped slot tends to increase the wind suction near the leading edge, whereas the hexagonal and octagonal shaped slots are found to decrease the wind suction. In particular, with the installation of octagonal shaped slot, the maximum reduction of wind suction coefficients near the leading edge reaches up to 31% as compared to the circular shaped slot, while the maximum reduction of mean wind suction coefficients is about 30%.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.273-283
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• 2018

Currently, the dynamic amplification effect of suction is described using the wind vibration coefficient (WVC) of external loads. In other words, it is proposed that the fluctuating characteristics of suction are equivalent to external loads. This is, however, not generally valid. Meanwhile, the effects of the ventilation rate of louver on suction and its WV are considered. To systematically analyze the effects of the ventilation rate of louver on the multi-dimensional WVC of ultra-large cooling towers under suctions, the 210 m ultra-large cooling tower under construction was studied. First, simultaneous rigid pressure measurement wind tunnel tests were executed to obtain the time history of fluctuating wind loads on the external surface and the internal surface of the cooling tower at different ventilation rates (0%, 15%, 30%, and 100%). Based on that, the average values and distributions of fluctuating wind pressures on external and internal surfaces were obtained and compared with each other; a tower/pillar/circular foundation integrated simulation model was developed using the finite element method and complete transient time domain dynamics of external loads and four different suctions of this cooling tower were calculated. Moreover, 1D, 2D, and 3D distributions of WVCs under external loads and suctions at different ventilation rates were obtained and compared with each other. The WVCs of the cooling tower corresponding to four typical response targets (i.e., radial displacement, meridional force, Von Mises stress, and circumferential bending moment) were discussed. Value determination and 2D evaluation of the WVCs of external loads and suctions of this large cooling tower at different ventilation rates were proposed. This study provides references to precise prediction and value determination of WVC of ultra-large cooling towers.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.181-190
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• 2019

Light-frame wood structures have the ability to carry gravity loads. However, their performance during severe wind storms has indicated weakness with respect to resisting uplift wind loads exerted on the roofs of residential houses. A common failure mode observed during almost all main hurricane events initiates at the roof-to-wall connections (RTWCs). The toe-nail connections typically used at these locations are weak with regard to resisting uplift loading. This issue has been investigated at the Insurance Research Lab for Better Homes, where full-scale testing was conducted of a house under appropriate simulated uplift wind loads. This paper describes the detailed and sophisticated numerical simulation performed for this full-scale test, following which the numerical predictions were compared with the experimental results. In the numerical model, the nonlinear behavior is concentrated at the RTWCs, which is simulated with the use of a multi-linear plastic element. The analysis was conducted on four sets of uplift loads applied during the physical testing: 30 m/sincreased by 5 m/sincrements to 45 m/s. At this level of uplift loading, the connections exhibited inelastic behavior. A comparison with the experimental results revealed the ability of the sophisticated numerical model to predict the nonlinear response of the roof under wind uplift loads that vary both in time and space. A further component of the study was an evaluation of the load sharing among the trusses under realistic, uniform, and code pressures. Both the numerical model and the tributary area method were used for the load-sharing calculations.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 2001

This paper presents results of a study on wind loads and wind induced dynamic response of bridge jointed twin-towered buildings. Utilizing the high-frequency force balance technique, the drag and moment coefficients measured in wind tunnel tests, and the maximum acceleration rms values on the top floor of towers, are analyzed to examine the influence of building's plan shapes and of intervals between towers. The alongwind, acrosswind and torsional modal force spectra are investigated for generic bridge jointed twin-towered building models which cover twin squares, twin rhombuses, twin triangles, twin triangles with sharp corners cut off, twin rectangles and individual rectangle with the same outline aspect ratio as the twin rectangles. The analysis of the statistical correlation among three components of the aerodynamic force corroborated that the correlation between acrosswind and torsional forces is significant for bridge jointed twin-towered buildings.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.326-333
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• 2009

Design life-time of a wind turbine is required to be at least 20 years. In the meantime, the wind turbine will experience a lot of load cases such as extreme loads and fatigue loads which will include several typhoons per year and extreme gusts with 50 years recurrence period as well as endless turbulence flow. Therefore, IEC61400-1 specifies design load cases to be considered in the wind turbine design and requires the wind turbine to withstand the load cases in various operational situations. This paper investigates the ultimate loads which the wind turbine will experience for 20 years and their characteristics based on the IEC61400-1 using an aero-elastic software, GH-Bladed. And the performance characteristics of a wind turbine such as electrical power generation and annual energy yield are also investigated.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.2880-2885
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• 2008

Design lifttime of a wind turbine is required to be at least 20 years. In the meantime, the wind turbine will experience a lot of load cases such as extreme loads and fatigue loads which will include several typhoons per year and extreme gusts with 50 years recurrence period as well as endless turbulence flow. Therefore, IEC61400-1 specifies design load cases to be considered in the wind turbine design and requires the wind turbine to withstand the load cases in various operational situations. This paper investigates the ultimate loads which the wind turbine will experience for 20 years and their characteristics based on the IEC61400-1 using an aero-elastic software, GH-Blade. And the performance characteristics of a wind turbine such as electrical power generation and annual energy yield are also investigated.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.313-350
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• 2016

Taipei 101 Tower, which has 101 stories with height of 508 m, is located in Taipei where typhoons and earthquakes commonly occur. It is currently the second tallest building in the world. Therefore, the dynamic performance of the super-tall building under strong wind actions requires particular attentions. In this study, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) integrated with a new inflow turbulence generator and a new sub-grid scale (SGS) model was conducted to simulate the wind loads on the super-tall building. Three-dimensional finite element model of Taipei 101 Tower was established and used to evaluate the wind-induced responses of the high-rise structure based on the simulated wind forces. The numerical results were found to be consistent with those measured from a vibration monitoring system installed in the building. Furthermore, the equivalent static wind loads on the building, which were computed by the time-domain and frequency-domain analysis, respectively, were in satisfactory agreement with available wind tunnel testing results. It has been demonstrated through the validation studies that the numerical framework presented in this paper, including the recommended SGS model, the inflow turbulence generation technique and associated numerical treatments, is a useful tool for evaluation of the wind loads and wind-induced responses of tall buildings.