• Wind and Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.163-176
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• 2012

Damaging winds, associated with a variety of weather phenomena, are frequently experienced in New Zealand. Observations and modelling of two recent extreme wind events; the Taranaki tornado outbreak of July 2007, and the Greymouth down-slope easterly wind storm of July 2008 are described in detail here. Post-event engineering damage surveys, rare for New Zealand, were done for these storms and the results are summarized here. Finally, the issue of sampling extreme wind events is raised and the need to include detailed numerical modelling analysis to understand wind gust climatologies at observing sites and extending these to wider regions is discussed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.177-188
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• 2012

The meteorological events that cause most strong winds in Brazil are extra-tropical cyclones, downbursts and tornadoes. However, one hurricane formed off the coastline of southern Brazil in 2005, a tropical storm formed in 2010 and there are predictions that others may form again. Events such as those described in the paper and which have occurred before 1987, generate data for the wind map presented in the Brazilian wind loading code NBR-6123. This wind map presents the reference wind speeds based on 3-second gust wind speed at 10 m height in open terrain, with 50-year return period, varying from 30 m/s (north half of country) to 50 m/s (extreme south). There is not a separation of the type of climatological event which generated each registered velocity. Therefore, a thunderstorm (TS), an extra-tropical pressure system (EPS) or even a tropical cyclone (TC) are treated the same and its resulting velocities absorbed without differentiation. Since the flow fields generated by each type of meteorological event may be distinct, the indiscriminate combination of the highest wind velocities with aerodynamic coefficients from boundary layer wind tunnels may lead to erroneous loading in buildings.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.325-336
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• 2018

The physical infrastructure of the power systems, including the high-voltage transmission towers and lines as well as the poles and wires for power distribution at a lower voltage level, is critical for the resilience of the community since the failures or nonfunctioning of these structures could introduce large area power outages under the extreme weather events. In the current engineering practices, single circuit lattice steel towers linked by transmission lines are widely used to form power transmission systems. After years of service and continues interactions with natural and built environment, progressive damages accumulate at various structural details and could gradually change the structural performance. This study is to evaluate the typical existing transmission tower-line system subjected to synoptic winds (atmospheric boundary layer winds). Effects from the possible corrosion penetration on the structural members of the transmission towers and the aerodynamic damping force on the conductors are evaluated. However, corrosion in connections is not included. Meanwhile, corrosion on the structural members is assumed to be evenly distributed. Wind loads are calculated based on the codes used for synoptic winds and the wind tunnel experiments were carried out to obtain the drag coefficients for different panels of the transmission towers as well as for the transmission lines. Sensitivity analysis is carried out based upon the incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) to evaluate the structural capacity of the transmission tower-line system for different corrosion and loading conditions. Meanwhile, extreme value analysis is also performed to further estimate the short-term extreme response of the transmission tower-line system.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.227-244
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• 2013

Non-stationary extreme winds such as thunderstorm downbursts are responsible for many structural damages. This research presents a time domain approach for estimating along-wind load effects on tall buildings using multiple wind speed time history samples, which are simulated from evolutionary power spectra density (EPSD) functions of non-stationary wind fluctuations using the method developed by the authors' earlier research. The influence of transient wind loads on various responses including time-varying mean, root-mean-square value and peak factor is also studied. Furthermore, a simplified model is proposed to describe the non-stationary wind fluctuation as a uniformly modulated process with a modulation function following the time-varying mean. Finally, the probabilistic extreme response and peak factor are quantified based on the up-crossing theory of non-stationary process. As compared to the time domain response analysis using limited samples of wind record, usually one sample, the analysis using multiple samples presented in this study will provide more statistical information of responses. The time domain simulation also facilitates consideration of nonlinearities of structural and wind load characteristics over previous frequency domain analysis.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.87-109
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• 2012

A substantial part of South Africa is subject to more than one strong wind source. The effect of that on extreme winds is that higher quantiles are usually estimated with a mixed strong wind climate estimation method, compared to the traditional Gumbel approach based on a single population. The differences in the estimated quantiles between the two methods depend on the values of the Gumbel distribution parameters for the different strong wind mechanisms involved. Cluster analysis of the distribution parameters provides a characterization of the effect of the relative differences in their values, and therefore the dominance of the different strong wind mechanisms. For gusts, cold fronts tend to dominate over the coastal and high-lying areas, while other mechanisms, especially thunderstorms, are dominant over the lower-lying areas in the interior. For the hourly mean wind speeds cold fronts are dominant in the south-west, south and east of the country. On the West Coast the ridging of the Atlantic Ocean high-pressure system dominate in the south, while the presence of a deep trough or coastal low pressure system is the main strong wind mechanism in the north. In the central interior cold fronts tend to share their influence almost equally with other synoptic-scale mechanisms.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.51-68
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• 1999

Applying and extending some preceding researches, this paper proposes a map of Italian extreme winds assigning the reference velocity, i.e., the wind velocity averaged over 10 minutes, at 10 m height, in a flat open terrain, with 50 years mean return period, depending on the site and the altitude. Furthermore, an objective criterion is formulated by which the actual values of the local wind velocity are given as a function of the reference velocity. The study has been carried out in view of the revision of the Italian Standards dealing with safety and loads and the introduction of the aeolic Italian map into Eurocode 1.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.65-87
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• 2016

The wind velocity profile over the height of a structure in high intensity wind (HIW) events, such as downbursts, differs from that associated with atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) winds. Current design codes for lattice transmission structures contain only limited advice on the treatment of HIW effects, and structural design is carried out using wind load profiles and response factors derived for ABL winds. The present study assesses the load-deformation curve (capacity curve) of a transmission tower under modeled downburst wind loading, and compares it with that obtained for an ABL wind loading profile. The analysis considers nonlinear inelastic response under simulated downburst wind fields. The capacity curve is represented using the relationship between the base shear and the maximum tip displacement. The results indicate that the capacity curve remains relatively consistent between different downburst scenarios and an ABL loading profile. The use of the capacity curve avoids the difficulty associated with defining a reference wind speed and corresponding wind profile that are adequate and applicable for downburst and ABL winds, thereby allowing a direct comparison of response under synoptic and downburst events. Uncertainty propagation analysis is carried out to evaluate the tower capacity by considering the uncertainty in material properties and geometric variables. The results indicated the coefficient of variation of the tower capacity is small compared to those associated with extreme wind speeds.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.489-497
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• 2019

Wind-adaptable design (WAD) provides a new method for super-tall buildings to lessen design conflicts between architectural prerequisites and aerodynamic requirements, and to increase the efficiency of structural system. Compared to conventional wind-resistant design approach, the proposed new method is to design a building in two consecutive stages: a stage in normal winds and a stage during extreme winds. In majority of time, the required structural capacity is primarily for normal wind effects. During extreme wind storms, the building's capacity to wind loads is reinforced by on-demand operable flow control measures/devices to effectively reduce the loads. A general procedure for using WAD is provided, followed by an exploratory case study to demonstrate the application of WAD.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.171-191
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• 2024

Wind Driven Rain (WDR) poses a significant threat to the building environment, especially in hurricane prone regions by causing interior and content damage during tropical storms and hurricanes. The damage due to rain intrusion depends on the total amount of water that enters the building; however, owing to the use of inadequate empirical methods, the amount of water intrusion is difficult to estimate accurately. Hence, the need to achieve full-scale testing capable of realistically simulating rain intrusion is widely recognized. This paper presents results of a full-scale experimental simulation at the NHERI Wall of Wind Experimental Facility (WOW EF) aimed at obtaining realistic rain characteristics as experienced by structures during tropical storms and hurricanes. A full-scale simulation of rain in strong winds would allow testing WDR intrusion through typical building components. A study of rain intrusion through a sliding glass door is presented, which accounted for the effects of multiple wind directions, test durations and wind speeds; configurations with and without shuttering systems were also considered. The study showed that significant levels of water intrusion can occur during conditions well below current design levels. The knowledge gained through this work may enhance risk modeling pertaining to loss estimates due to WDR intrusion in buildings, and it may help quantify the potential reduction of losses due to the additional protection from shuttering systems on sliding glass doors during winds.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2021

In this study, extreme wind speeds in the Western North Pacific (WNP) were estimated using reanalysis wind fields synthesized with an empirical typhoon vortex model. Reanalysis wind data used is the Fifth-generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis (ERA5) data, which was deemed to be the most suitable for extreme value analysis in this study. The empirical typhoon vortex model used has the advantage of being able to realistically reproduce the asymmetric winds of a typhoon by using the gale/storm-forced wind radii information in the 4 quadrants of a typhoon. Using a total of 39 years of the synthesized reanalysis wind fields in the WNP, extreme value analysis is applied to the General Pareto Distribution (GPD) model based on the Peak-Over-Threshold (POT) method, which can be used effectively in case of insufficient data. The results showed that the extreme analysis using the synthesized wind data significantly improved the tendency to underestimate the extreme wind speeds compared to using only reanalysis wind data. Considering the difficulty of obtaining long-term observational wind data at sea, the result of the synthesized wind field and extreme value analysis developed in this study can be used as basic data for the design of offshore structures.