• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.89-106
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• 2016

With an aim to assess the wind damage to urban trees in more realistic conditions, the nonlinear dynamics of structured trees subjected to strong winds with different levels is investigated in the present paper. For the logical treatment of dynamical behavior of trees, material nonlinearities of green wood associated with tree biomechanics and geometric nonlinearity of tree configuration are included. Applying simulated fluctuating wind velocity to the numerical model, the dynamical behavior of the structured tree is explored. A comparative study against the linear dynamics analysis usually involved in the previous researches is carried out. The failure wind velocity of urban trees is then defined, whereby the failure percentages of the tree components are exposed. Numerical investigations reveal that the nonlinear dynamics analysis of urban trees results in a more accurate solution of wind-induced response than the classical linear dynamics analysis, where the nonlinear effect of the tree behavior gives rise to be strengthened as increasing of the levels of wind velocity, i.e., the amplitude of 10-min mean wind velocity. The study of relationship between the failure percentage and the failure wind velocity provides a new perspective towards the vulnerability assessment of urban trees likely to fail due to wind actions, which is potential to link with the practical engineering.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.685-701
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• 2016

Downbursts are of great harm to transmission lines and many towers can even be destroyed. The downburst wind field model by Chen and Letchford was applied, and the wind loads of two typical transmission towers in inland areas and littoral areas were calculated separately. Spatial finite element models of the transmission towers were established by elastic beam and link elements. The wind loads as well as the dead loads of conductors and insulators were simplified and applied on the suspension points by concentrated form. Structural analysis on two typical transmission towers under normal wind and downburst was completed. The bearing characteristics and the failure modes of the transmission towers under downburst were determined. The failure state of tower members can be judged by the calculated stress ratios. It shows that stress states of the tower members were mainly controlled by 45 degree wind load. For the inland areas with low deign wind velocity, though the structural height is not in the highest wind velocity zone of downburst, the wind load under downburst is much higher than that under normal wind. The main members above the transverse separator of the legs will be firstly destroyed. For the littoral areas with high deign wind velocity, the wind load under downburst is lower than under normal wind. Transmission towers are not controlled by the wind loads from downbursts in design process.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.193-208
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• 2008

This paper focuses on assessing the failure of one of the transmission towers that collapsed in Winnipeg, Canada, as a result of a microburst event. The study is conducted using a fluid-structure numerical model that was developed in-house. A major challenge in microburst-related problems is that the forces acting on a structure vary with the microburst parameters including the descending jet velocity, the diameter of the event and the relative location between the structure and the jet. The numerical model, which combines wind field data for microbursts together with a non-linear finite element formulation, is capable of predicting the progressive failure of a tower that initiates after one of its member reaches its capacity. The model is employed first to determine the microburst parameters that are likely to initiate failure of a number of critical members of the tower. Progressive failure analysis of the tower is then conducted by applying the loads associated with those critical configurations. The analysis predicts a collapse of the conductors cross-arm under a microburst reference velocity that is almost equal to the corresponding value for normal wind load that was used in the design of the structure. A similarity between the predicted modes of failure and the post event field observations was shown.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.79-100
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• 2017

The use of wind energy resources is developing rapidly in recent decades. There is an increasing number of wind farms in high wind-velocity areas such as the Pacific Rim regions. Wind turbine towers are vulnerable to tropical cyclones and tower failures have been reported in an increasing number in these regions. Existing post-disaster failure case studies were mostly performed through forensic investigations and there are few numerical studies that address the collapse mode simulation of wind turbine towers under strong wind loads. In this paper, the wind-induced failure analysis of a conventional 65 m hub high 1.5-MW wind turbine was carried out by means of nonlinear response time-history analyses in a detailed finite element model of the structure. The wind loading was generated based on the wind field parameters adapted from the cyclone boundary layer flow. The analysis results indicate that this particular tower fails due to the formation of a full-section plastic hinge at locations that are consistent with those reported from field investigations, which suggests the validity of the proposed numerical analysis in the assessment of the performance of wind-farms under cyclonic winds. Furthermore, the numerical simulation allows to distinguish different failure stages before the dynamic collapse occurs in the proposed wind turbine tower, opening the door to future research on the control of these intermediate collapse phases.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.175-186
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• 2018

With the continuous increase of span lengths, modern bridges are becoming much more flexible and more prone to flutter under wind excitations. A reasonable probabilistic flutter analysis of long-span bridges involving random and uncertain variables may have to be taken into consideration. This paper presents a method for estimating the reliability index and failure probability due to flutter, which considers the very important variables including the extreme wind velocity at bridge site, damping ratio, mathematical modeling, and flutter derivatives. The Aizhai Bridge in China is selected as an example to demonstrate the numerical procedure for the flutter reliability analysis. In the presented method, the joint probability density function of wind speed and wind direction at the deck level of the bridge is first established. Then, based on the fundamental theories of structural reliability, the reliability index and failure probability due to flutter of the Aizhai Bridge is investigated by applying the Monte Carlo method and the first order reliability method (FORM). The probabilistic flutter analysis can provide a guideline in the design of long-span bridges and the results show that the structural damping and flutter derivatives have significant effects on the flutter reliability, more accurate and reliable data of which is needed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2013

This study is concerned with the estimation of fluctuate wind velocity statistic properties in the major cities reflecting the recent meteorological with largest data samples (yearly 2003-2012). The basic wind speeds were standardized homogeneously to the surface roughness category C, and to 10m above the ground surface. The estimation of the extreme of non-Gaussian load effects for design applications has often been treated tacitly by invoking a conventional wind design (gust load peak factor) on the basis of Gaussian processes. This assumption breaks down when the loading processes exhibits non-Gaussianity, in which a conventional wind design yields relatively non conservative estimates because of failure to include long tail regions inherent to non-Gaussian processes. This study seeks to ascertain the probability distribution function from recently wind data with effected typhoon & maximum instantaneous wind speed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.402-409
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• 2004

Numerical analysis of static and dynamic wind effects on civil engineering structures was performed. Long-span suspension bridges are flexible structures that are highly sensitive to the action of the wind. Aerodynamic effect often becomes a governing factor in the design process of bridges and aeroelastic stability boundary becomes a prime criterion which should be confirmed during the structural design stage of bridges because the long-span suspension bridges are prone to the aerodynamic instabilities caused by wind. If the wind velocity exceeds the critical velocity that the bridge can withstand, then the bridge fails due to the phenomenon of flutter. Buffeting caused by turbulence results in structural fatigue, which could lead to the failure of a bridge. Navier-Stokes equations are used for the aeroelastic analysis of bridge girder section. The aeroelastic simulation is carried out to study the aeroelastic stability of bridges using both Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) and Computational Structural Dynamic (CSD) schemes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.207-230
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• 2012

Nowadays CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) became widely used materials for the strengthening and retrofitting of structures. Many experimental and analytical studies are encountered at literature about strengthening beams by using this kind of materials against static loads and cyclic loads such as earthquake or wind loading for investigating their behavior. But authors did not found any study about strengthening of RC beams by using CFRP against low velocity impact and investigating their behavior. For these reasons an experimental study is conducted on totally ten strengthened RC beams. Impact loading is applied on to specimens by using an impact loading system that is designed by authors. Investigated parameters were concrete compression strength and drop height. Two different sets of specimens with different concrete compression strength tested under the impact loading that are applied by dropping constant weight hammer from five different heights. The acceleration arises from the impact loading is measured against time. The change of velocity, displacement and energy are calculated for all specimens. The failure modes of the specimens with normal and high concrete compression strength are observed under the loading of constant weight impact hammer that are dropped from different heights. Impact behaviors of beams are positively affected from the strengthening with CFRP. Measured accelerations, the number of drops up to failure and dissipated energy are increased. Finite element analysis that are made by using ABAQUS software is used for the simulation of experiments, and model gave compatible results with experiments.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.473-495
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• 2014

Localized wind events, in the form of tornadoes and downbursts, are the main cause of the large number of failure incidents of electrical transmission line structures worldwide. In this study, a numerical model has been developed to study the behaviour of self-supported transmission lines under various tornado events. The tornado wind fields used were based on a full three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics analysis that was developed in an earlier study. A three-dimensional finite element model of an existing self-supported transmission line was developed. The tornado velocity wind fields were then used to predict the forces applied to the modelled transmission line system. A comprehensive parametric study was performed in order to assess the effects of the location of the tornado relative to the transmission line under F2 and F4 tornado wind fields. The study was used to identify critical tornado configurations which can be used when designing transmission line systems. The results were used to assess the sensitivity of the members' axial forces to changes in the location of the tornado relative to the transmission line. The results were then used to explain the behaviour of the transmission line when subjected to the identified critical tornado configurations.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2004.07c
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• pp.1802-1804
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• 2004

In seashore, outdoor insulators are polluted due to salty wind and the pollution causes the flashover and failure of electric equipments. As well known, the pollution has a close relation with meteorological factors such as wind velocity, precipitation, wind direction, relative humidity, dew point, etc. In this paper we statistically analyzed the correlation between the pollution and the meteorological factors including snowfall and freezing. The multiple regression analysis was used for the statistical analysis; daily measured equivalent salt deposit density(dependent variable) and the meteorological data(independent variable) were used. From the results of this investigation, we verified the influence of snowfall and freezing on the ESDD, which has been overlooked in the preceding investigation.