• Wind and Structures
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.203-225
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• 2013

An analysis framework for vehicle-bridge dynamic interaction system under turbulent wind is proposed based on the relevant theory of wind engineering and dynamics. Considering the fluctuating properties of wind field, the stochastic wind velocity time history is simulated by the Auto-Regressive method in terms of power spectral density function of wind field. The bridge is represented by three-dimensional finite element model and the vehicle by a multi-rigid-body system connected by springs and dashpots. The detailed calculation formulas of unsteady aerodynamic forces on bridge and vehicle are derived. In addition, the form selection of wind barriers, which are applied as the windbreak measures of newly-built railways in northwest China, is studied based on the suggested evaluation index, and the suitable values about height and porosity rate of wind barriers are studied. By taking a multi-span simply-supported box-girder bridge as a case study, the dynamic response of the bridge and the running safety indices of the train traveling on the bridge with and without wind barriers are calculated. The limit values of train speed with respect to different wind velocities are proposed according to the allowance values in the design code.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.553-574
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• 2009

This paper presents statistical analysis results of wind speed and atmospheric turbulence data measured from more than 30 anemometers installed at 15 different height levels on 325 m high Beijing Meteorological Tower and is primarily intended to provide useful information on boundary layer wind characteristics for wind-resistant design of tall buildings and high-rise structures. Profiles of mean wind speed are presented based on the field measurements and are compared with empirical models' predictions. Relevant parameters of atmospheric boundary layer at urban terrain are determined from the measured wind speed profiles. Furthermore, wind velocity data in longitudinal, lateral and vertical directions, which were recorded from an ultrasonic anemometer during windstorms, are analyzed and discussed. Atmospheric turbulence information such as turbulence intensity, gust factor, turbulence integral length scale and power spectral densities of the three-dimensional fluctuating wind velocity are presented and used to evaluate the adequacy of existing theoretical and empirical models. The objective of this study is to investigate the profiles of mean wind speed and atmospheric turbulence characteristics over a typical urban area.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.5 no.2_3_4
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• pp.337-346
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• 2002

Wind tunnel pressure measurements and numerical simulations based on the Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) are compared with full and model scale data in the flow area of impingement, separation and wake for $60^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$ wind azimuth angles. The phase averaged fluctuating pressures simulated by the RSM model are combined with modelling of the small scale, random pressure field to produce the total, instantaneous pressures. Time averaged, rsm and peak pressure coefficients are consequently calculated. This numerical approach predicts slightly better the pressure field on the roof of the TTU (Texas Tech University) building when compared to the wind tunnel experimental results. However, it shows a deviation from both experimental data sets in the impingement and wake regions. The limitations of the RSM model in resolving the intermittent flow field associated with the corner vortex formation are discussed. Also, correlations between the largest roof suctions and the corner vortex "switching phenomena" are observed. It is inferred that the intermittency and short duration of this vortex switching might be related to both the wind tunnel and numerical simulation under-prediction of the peak roof suctions for oblique wind directions.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.739-749
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• 2015

Field measurement of wind characteristics is of great significance for the wind engineering community. High-frequency anemometers such as ultrasonic anemometers are widely used to obtain the high-frequency fluctuating wind speed time history. However, conventional instrumentation systems may suffer from low efficiency, non-real time transmission and higher maintenance cost, and thus are not very appropriate in the field measurement of strong winds in remote areas such as mountain valleys. In order to improve the field measurement performance in those remote areas, a wireless high-frequency anemometer instrumentation system for field measurement has been developed. In this paper, the architecture of the proposed instrumentation system, and measured data transmission and treatment will be presented firstly. Then a comparison among existing instrumentation systems and the proposed one is made. It shows that the newly-developed system has considerable advantages. Furthermore, the application of this system to the bridge site located in the mountain valley is discussed. Finally, typical samples of measured data from this area are presented. It can be expected that the proposed system has a great application potential in the wind field measurement for remote areas such as the mountainous or island or coastal area, and hazardous structures such as ultra-voltage transmission tower, due to its real-time transmission, low cost and no manual collection of data and convenience.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.491-515
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• 2013

Wind pressure characteristics on a double tower high-rise structure, which is disturbed by surrounding buildings, were investigated using large eddy simulation (LES) and 1:300 scale wind tunnel experiments. The computational simulation technique and wind tunnel experimental technique were described in detail initially. Comparisons of computational results with the experimental data have subsequently been carried out to validate the reliability of LES. Comparisons have been performed in detail for the mean and fluctuating pressure coefficients. Detailed explanations of each comparison were given in the paper. To study further on the pressure coefficients on the building surfaces, parametric studies on shape coefficient and spatial correlation were performed and investigated. The numerical and experimental results presented in this paper advance understanding on wind field around buildings and the application of LES and wind tunnel tests.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 2018

Full-scale measurements of wind action on the open roof structure of the WuXi grand theater, which is composed of eight large-span free-form leaf-shaped space trusses with the largest span of 76.79 m, were conducted during the passage of Typhoons HaiKui and SuLi. The wind pressure field data were continuously and simultaneously monitored using a wind pressure monitoring system installed on the roof structure during the typhoons. A detailed analysis of the field data was performed to investigate the characteristics of the fluctuating wind pressure on the open roof, such as the wind pressure spectrum, spatial correlation coefficients, peak wind pressures and non-Gaussian wind pressure characteristics, under typhoon conditions. Three classical methods were used to calculate the peak factors of the wind pressure on the open roof, and the suggested design method and peak factors were given. The non-Gaussianity of the wind pressure was discussed in terms of the third and fourth statistical moments of the measured wind pressure, and the corresponding indication of the non-Gaussianity on the open roof was proposed. The result shows that there were large pulses in the time-histories of the measured wind pressure on Roof A2 in the field. The spatial correlation of the wind pressures on roof A2 between the upper surface and lower surface is very weak. When the skewness is larger than 0.3 and the kurtosis is larger than 3.7, the wind pressure time series on roof A2 can be taken as a non-Gaussian distribution, and the other series can be taken as a Gaussian distribution.

• 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.10 no.3
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• pp.287-300
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• 2007

Wind action is a factor of fundamental importance in the structural design of light or slender constructions. Codes for structural design usually assume that the incident mean wind velocity is parallel to the ground, which constitutes a valid simplification for frequent winds caused by meteorological phenomena such as Extratropical Storms (EPS) or Tropical Storms. Wind effects due to other phenomena, such as thunderstorms, and its combination with EPS winds in so-called squall lines, are simply neglected. In this paper a model that describes the three-dimensional wind velocity field originated from a downburst in a thunderstorm (TS) is proposed. The model is based on a semi empirical representation of an axially-symmetrical flow line pattern that describes a stationary field, modulated by a function that accounts for the evolution of the wind velocity with time. The model allows the generation of a spatially and temporally variable velocity field, which also includes a fluctuating component of the velocity. All parameters employed in the model are related to meteorological variables, which are susceptible of statistical assessment. A background wind is also considered, in order to account for the translational velocity of the thunderstorm, normally due to local wind conditions. When the translation of the TS is caused by an EPS, a squall line is produced, causing the highest wind velocities associated with TS events. The resulting vertical velocity profiles were also studied and compared with existing models, such as the profiles proposed by Vicroy, et al. (1992) and Wood and Kwok (1998). The present model predicts horizontal velocity profiles that depend on the distance to the storm center, effect not considered by previous models, although the various proposals are globally compatible. The model can be applied in any region of interest, once the relevant meteorological variables are known, to simulate the excitation due to TS winds in the design of transmission lines, long-span crossings, cable-stayed bridges, towers or similar structures.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.599-618
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• 2014

In this study, a square rectangular tall building is considered to investigate the effects of turbulence integral length scale and turbulence intensity on the along-wind responses, across-wind responses and torsional responses of the tall building by Large Eddy Simulation (LES). A recently proposed inflow turbulence generator called the discretizing and synthesizing random flow generation (DSRFG) approach is applied to simulate turbulent flow fields. It has been proved that the approach is able to generate a fluctuating turbulent flow field satisfying any given spectrum, desired turbulence intensity and wind speed profiles. Five profiles of turbulence integral length scale and turbulence intensity are respectively generated for the inflow fields by the DSRFG approach for investigating the effects of turbulence integral length scale and turbulence intensity on the wind-induced responses of the tall building. The computational results indicate that turbulence integral length scale does not have significant effect on the along-wind (displacement, velocity and acceleration) responses, across-wind displacement and velocity responses, while the across-wind acceleration and torsional responses vary without a clear rule with the parameter. On the other hand, the along-wind, across-wind and torsional responses increase with the growth of turbulence intensity.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.403-418
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• 2003

This paper presents an extensive analysis of the short term, unsteady wind loading on a low-rise building. The building is located in a rural environment and only the specific situation of wind flow orthogonal to the long face of the structure is considered. The data is analysed using conventional analysis and less traditional methods such as conditional sampling and wavelet analysis. The nature of the flow field over the building is found to be highly unsteady and complex. Fluctuating pressures on the windward wall are shown to a large extent to be caused by the fluctuations in the upstream flow, whereas extreme pressures on the roof are as a result of high intensity small scale flow structures. On the roof of the building a significant amount of energy is shown to exist at frequencies above 1 Hz.