• Wind and Structures
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.279-289
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• 2000

The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the necessity of considering wind load combinations even for low-rise buildings. It first discusses the overall quasi-static wind load effects and their combinations to be considered in structural design of low-rise buildings. It was found that the maximum torsional moment closely correlates with the maximum along-wind base shear. It was also found that the instantaneous pressure distribution causing the maximum along-wind base shear was quite similar to that causing the maximum torsional moment, and that this asymmetric pressure pattern simultaneously accompanies considerable across-wind and torsional components. Secondly, the actual wind pressure distributions causing maximum quasi-static internal forces in the structural frames are conditionally sampled and their typical pressure patterns are presented.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.15-42
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• 2024

A flexible-base coupled-two-beam (CTB) discrete model with equivalent tuned mass dampers is used to assess the effect of soil-structure interaction (SSI) and different types of lateral resisting systems on the design of passive dynamic absorbers (PDAs) under the action of along-wind and across-wind loads due to vortex shedding. A total of five different PDAs are considered in this study: (1) tuned mass damper (TMD), (2) circular tuned sloshing damper (C-TSD), (3) rectangular tuned sloshing damper (R-TSD), (4) two-way liquid damper (TWLD) and (5) pendulum tuned mass damper (PTMD). By modifying the non-dimensional lateral stiffness ratio, the CTB model can consider lateral deformations varying from those of a flexural cantilever beam to those of a shear cantilever beam. The Monte Carlo simulation method was used to generate along-wind and across-wind loads correlated along the height of a real shear wall-frame building, which has similar fundamental periods of vibration and different modes of lateral deformation in the xz and yz planes, respectively. Ambient vibration tests were conducted on the building to identify its real lateral behavior and thus choose the most suitable parameters for the CTB model. Both alongwind and across-wind responses of the 144-meter-tall building were computed considering four soil types (hard rock, dense soil, stiff soil and soft soil) and a single PDA on its top, that is, 96 time-history analyses were carried out to assess the effect of SSI and lateral resisting system on the PDAs design. Based on the parametric analyses, the response significantly increases as the soil flexibility increases for both type of lateral wind loads, particularly for flexural-type deformations. The results show a great effectiveness of PDAs in controlling across-wind peak displacements and both along-wind and across-wind RMS accelerations, on the contrary, PDAs were ineffective in controlling along-wind peak displacements on all soil types and different kind of lateral deformation. Generally speaking, the maximum possible value of the PDA mass efficiency index increases as the soil flexibility increases, on the contrary, it decreases as the non-dimensional lateral stiffness ratio of the building increases; therefore, there is a significant increase of the vibration control effectiveness of PDAs for lateral flexural-type deformations on soft soils.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.231-251
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• 2016

This paper presents the experimental results of the wind tunnel tests for three symmetric, rectangular, tall building models on a typical open terrain considering the torsional motion-induced vibrations. The time histories of the wind pressure on these models under different reduced wind speeds and torsional amplitudes are obtained through the multiple point synchronous scanning pressure technique. Thereafter, the characteristics of both the Root Mean Square (RMS) coefficients and the spectra of the base shear/torque in the along-wind, across-wind, and torsional directions, respectively, are discussed. The results show that the RMS coefficients of the base shear/torque vary in the three directions with both the reduced wind speeds and the torsional vibration amplitudes. The variation of the RMS coefficients in the along-wind direction results mainly from the change of the aerodynamic forces, but sometimes from aeroelastic effects induced by torsional vibration. However, the variations of the RMS coefficients in the across-wind and torsional directions are caused by more equal weights of both the aerodynamic forces and the aeroelastic effects. As such, for the typical tall buildings, the modification of the aerodynamic forces in the along-wind, across-wind, and torsional directions, respectively, and the aeroelastic effects in the across-wind and torsional directions should be considered. It is identified that the torsional vibration amplitudes and the reduced wind speeds are two significant parameters for the aerodynamic forces on the structures in the three directions.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.217-230
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• 2006

This paper describes a procedure to develop fragility curves for woodframe structures subjected to lateral wind loads. The fragilities are cast in terms of horizontal displacement criteria (maximum drift at the top of the shearwalls). The procedure is illustrated through the development of fragility curves for one and two-story residential woodframe buildings in high wind regions. The structures were analyzed using a monotonic pushover analysis to develop the relationship between displacement and base shear. The base shear values were then transformed to equivalent nominal wind speeds using information on the geometry of the baseline buildings and the wind load equations (and associated parameters) in ASCE 7-02. Displacement vs. equivalent nominal wind speed curves were used to determine the critical wind direction, and Monte Carlo simulation was used along with wind load parameter statistics provided by Ellingwood and Tekie (1999) to construct displacement vs. wind speed curves. Wind speeds corresponding to a presumed limit displacement were used to construct fragility curves. Since the fragilities were fit well using a lognormal CDF and had similar logarithmic standard deviations (${\xi}$), a quick analysis to develop approximate fragilities is possible, and this also is illustrated. Finally, a compound fragility curve, defined as a weighted combination of individual fragilities, is developed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2008

Interference effects in five square tall buildings arranged in an L- or T-shaped pattern are investigated in the wind tunnel. Mean and fluctuating shear forces, overturning moments and torsional moment are measured on each building with a force balance mounted at its base. Results are obtained at two values of clear separation between adjacent buildings, at half and a quarter building breadth. It is found that strong interference effect exists on all member buildings, resulting in significant modifications of wind loads as compared with the isolated single building case. Sheltering effect is observed on wind loads acting along the direction of an arm of the "L" or "T" on the inner buildings. However, increase in these wind loads from the isolated single building case is found on the most upwind edge building in the arm when wind blows at a slight oblique angle to the arm. The corner formed by two arms of buildings results in some wind catchment effect leading to increased wind pressure on windward building faces. Interesting interference phenomena such as negative drag force are reported. Interference effects on wind load fluctuations, load spectra and dynamic building responses are also studied and discussed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2017

This paper presents a 1:25 multi-freedom aero-elastic model for a high lighting pole at the Zhoushan stadium. To validate the similarity characteristics of the model, a free vibration test was performed before the formal test. Beat phenomenon was found and eliminated by synthesis of vibration in the X and Y directions, and the damping ratio of the model was identified by the free decay method. The dynamic characteristics of the model were examined and compared with the real structure; the similarity results were favorable. From the test results, the major along-wind dynamic response was the first vibration component. The along-wind wind vibration coefficient was calculated by the China code and Eurocode. When the peak factor equaled 3.5, the coefficient calculated by the China code was close to the experimental result while Eurocode had a slight overestimation of the coefficient. The wind vibration coefficient during typhoon flow was analyzed, and a magnification factor was suggested in typhoon-prone areas. By analyzing the power spectrum of the dynamic cross-wind base shear force, it was found that a second-order vortex-excited resonance existed. The cross-wind response in the test was smaller than Eurocode estimation. The aerodynamic damping ratio was calculated by random decrement technique and the results showed that aerodynamic damping ratios were mostly positive at the design wind speed, which means that the wind-induced galloping phenomenon is predicted not to occur at design wind speeds.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.317-332
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• 2004

Wind tunnel experiments were conducted under highly turbulent and disturbed flow conditions over a solid/perforated plate with a long splitter plate in its plane of symmetry. The effect of varied level of perforation of the normal plate on fluctuating velocities and fluctuating pressures measured across and along the separation bubble was studied. The different perforation levels of the normal plate; that is 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% are studied. The Reynolds number based on step height was varied from $4{\times}10^3$ to $1.2{\times}10^4$. The shape and size of the bubble vary with different perforation level of the normal plate that is to say the bubble is reduced both in height and length up to 30% perforation level. For higher perforation of the normal plate, bubble is completely swept out. The peak turbulence value occurs around 0.7 to 0.8 times the reattachment length. The turbulence intensity values are highest for the case of solid normal plate (bleed air is absent) and are lowest for the case of 50% perforation of the normal plate (bleed air is maximum in the present study). From the analysis of data it is observed that $\sqrt{\overline{u^{{\prime}2}}}/(\sqrt{\overline{u^{{\prime}2}}})_{max}$, (the ratio of RMS velocity fluctuation to maximum RMS velocity fluctuation), is uniquely related with dimensionless distance y/Y', (the ratio of distance normal to splitter plate to the distance where RMS velocity fluctuation is half its maximum value) for all the perforated normal plates. It is interesting to note that for 50% perforation of the normal plate, the RMS pressure fluctuation in the flow field gets reduced to around 60% as compared to that for solid normal plate. Analysis of the results show that the ratio [$C^{\prime}_p$ max/$-C_{pb}(1-{\eta})$], where $C^{\prime}_p$ max is the maximum coefficient of fluctuating pressure, $C_{pb}$ is the coefficient of base pressure and ${\eta}$ is the perforation level (ratio of open to total area), for surface RMS pressure fluctuation levels seems to be constant and has value of about 0.22. Similar analysis show that the ratio $[C^{\prime}_p$ max/$-C_{pb}(1-{\eta})]$ for flow field RMS pressure fluctuation levels seems to be constant and has a value of about 0.32.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.115-125
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• 2022

The high-Reynolds number flow around a rectangular cylinder, having streamwise to crossflow length ratio equal to 5 is analyzed in the present paper. The flow is characterized by shear-layer separation from the upstream edges. Vortical structures of different size form from the roll-up of these shear layers, move downstream and interact with the classical vortex shedding further downstream in the wake. The corresponding mean flow is characterized by a recirculation region along the lateral surface of the cylinder, ending by mean flow reattachment close to the trailing edge. The mean flow features on the cylinder side have been shown to be highly sensitive to set-up parameters both in numerical simulations and in experiments. The results of 21 Large Eddy Simulations (LES) are analyzed herein to highlight the impact of the lateral mean recirculation characteristics on the near-wake flow features and on some bulk quantities. The considered simulations have been carried out at Reynolds number Re=DU_∞/ν=40 000, being D the crossflow dimension, U_∞ the freestream velocity and ν the kinematic viscosity of air; the flow is set to have zero angle of attack. Some simulations are carried out with sharp edges (Mariotti et al. 2017), others with different values of the rounding of the upstream edges (Rocchio et al. 2020) and an additional LES is carried out to match the value of the roundness of the upstream edges in the experiments in Pasqualetto et al. (2022). The dimensions of the mean recirculation zone vary considerably in these simulations, allowing us to single out meaningful trends. The streamwise length of the lateral mean recirculation and the streamwise distance from the upstream edge of its center are the parameters controlling the considered quantities. The wake width increases linearly with these parameters, while the vortex-shedding non-dimensional frequency shows a linear decrease. The drag coefficient also linearly decreases with increasing the recirculation length and this is due to a reduction of the suctions on the base. However, the overall variation of C_D is small. Finally, a significant, and once again linear, increase of the fluctuations of the lift coefficient is found for increasing the mean recirculation streamwise length.