• Wind and Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.461-487
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• 2015

In recent years, the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) has become a competitive computing technology in comparison with the standard Central Processing Unit (CPU) technology due to reduced unit cost, energy and computing time. This paper describes the derivation and implementation of GPU-based algorithms for the analysis of wind loading uncertainty on high-rise systems, in line with the research field of probability-based wind engineering. The study begins by presenting an application of the GPU technology to basic linear algebra problems to demonstrate advantages and limitations. Subsequently, Monte-Carlo integration and synthetic generation of wind turbulence are examined. Finally, the GPU architecture is used for the dynamic analysis of three high-rise structural systems under uncertain wind loads. In the first example the fragility analysis of a single degree-of-freedom structure is illustrated. Since fragility analysis employs sampling-based Monte Carlo simulation, it is feasible to distribute the evaluation of different random parameters among different GPU threads and to compute the results in parallel. In the second case the fragility analysis is carried out on a continuum structure, i.e., a tall building, in which double integration is required to evaluate the generalized turbulent wind load and the dynamic response in the frequency domain. The third example examines the computation of the generalized coupled wind load and response on a tall building in both along-wind and cross-wind directions. It is concluded that the GPU can perform computational tasks on average 10 times faster than the CPU.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.15-34
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• 2011

Three wind-tunnel simulations of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow in suburban country exposure were generated for length scale factors 1:400, 1:250 and 1:220 to investigate scale effects in wind-tunnel simulations of the suburban ABL, to address recommended wind characteristics for suburban exposures reported in international standards, and to test redesigned experimental hardware. Investigated parameters are mean velocity, turbulence intensity, turbulent Reynolds shear stress, integral length scale of turbulence and power spectral density of velocity fluctuations. Experimental results indicate it is possible to reproduce suburban natural winds in the wind tunnel at different length scales without significant influence of the simulation length scale on airflow characteristics. However, in the wind tunnel it was not possible to reproduce two characteristic phenomena observed in full-scale: dependence of integral length scales on reference wind velocity and a linear increase in integral length scales with height. Furthermore, in international standards there is a considerable scatter of recommended values for suburban wind characteristics. In particular, recommended integral length scales in ESDU 85020 (1985) are significantly larger than in other international standards. Truncated vortex generators applied in this study proved to be successful in part-depth suburban ABL wind-tunnel simulation that yield a novel methodology in studies on wind effects on structures and air pollution dispersion.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.373-391
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• 2013

This is the first of two companion papers that analyse ten years of on-site monitoring data for the Confederation Bridge to determine the validity of the original wind speeds and wind loads predicted in 1994 when the bridge was being designed. The check of the original design values is warranted because the design wind speed at the middle of Northumberland Strait was derived from data collected at shore-based weather stations, and the design wind loads were based on tests of section and full-aeroelastic models in the wind tunnel. This first paper uses wind, tilt, and acceleration monitoring data to determine the static and dynamic responses of the bridge, which are then used in the second paper to derive the static and dynamic wind loads. It is shown that the design ten-minute mean wind speed with a 100-year return period is 1.5% less than the 1994 design value, and that the bridge has been subjected to this design event once on November 7, 2001. The dynamic characteristics of the instrumented spans of the bridge including frequencies, mode shapes and damping are in good agreement with published values reported by others. The on-site monitoring data show bridge response to be that of turbulent buffeting which is consistent with the response predicted at the design stage.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.231-243
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• 2020

Downbursts are acknowledged for being a major loading hazard for horizontally-extending structures like transmission line systems. With these structures being inherently flexible, it is important to characterize the turbulence associated with the wind flow of downburst events being essential to quantify dynamic excitations on structures. Accordingly, the current study numerically characterizes the downburst wind field of open terrain simulated at the Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) dome testing facility at The University of Western Ontario in Canada through a high-resolution large eddy simulation (LES). The study validates the numerical simulation considering both the mean and the turbulent components of the flow. It then provides a detailed visual description of the flow at WindEEE through the capabilities enabled by LES to identify the key factors affecting the flow. The study also presents the spatial distribution of turbulence intensities and length scales computed from the numerical model and compares them with previous values reported in the literature. The comparison shows the ability of the downburst simulated at WindEEE to reproduce turbulence characteristics similar to those reported from field measurements. The study also indicates that downburst turbulence is well-correlated circumferentially which imposes high correlated loads on horizontally-distributed structures such as transmission lines.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.17-41
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• 2016

To address the uncertainty of the flight trajectories caused by the turbulence and gustiness of the wind field over the roof and in the wake of a building, a 3-D probabilistic trajectory model of flat-type wind-borne debris is developed in this study. The core of this methodology is a 6 degree-of-freedom deterministic model, derived from the governing equations of motion of the debris, and a Monte Carlo simulation engine used to account for the uncertainty resulting from vertical and lateral gust wind velocity components. The influence of several parameters, including initial wind speed, time step, gust sampling frequency, number of Monte Carlo simulations, and the extreme gust factor, on the accuracy of the proposed model is examined. For the purpose of validation and calibration, the simulated results from the 3-D probabilistic trajectory model are compared against the available wind tunnel test data. Results show that the maximum relative error between the simulated and wind tunnel test results of the average longitudinal position is about 20%, implying that the probabilistic model provides a reliable and effective means to predict the 3-D flight of the plate-type wind-borne debris.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.819-831
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• 2020

Wind load is one of the major design loads for the hull and mooring of offshore floating structures, especially due to much larger windage area above water than under water. By virtue of extreme design philosophy, fully turbulent flow assumption can be justified and the hydrodynamic characteristics of the flow remain almost constant which implies the wind load is less sensitive to the Reynolds number around the design wind speed than wind profile. In the perspective of meteorology, wind profile used for wind load estimation is a part of Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL), especially maritime ABL (MBL) and have been studied how to implement the profile without losing turbulence properties numerically by several researchers. In this study, the MBL is implemented using an open source CFD toolkit, OpenFOAM and extended to unstable ABL as well as neutral ABL referred to as NPD profile. The homogeneity of the wind profile along wind direction is examined, especially with NPD profile. The NPD profile was applied to a semi-submersible rig and estimated wind load was compared with the results from wind tunnel test.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.487-499
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• 2021

The wind-blown sand effect on the high-speed train is investigated. Unsteady RANS equation and the SST k-ω turbulent model coupled with the discrete phase model (DPM) are utilized to simulate the two-phase of air-sand. Sand impact force is calculated based on the Hertzian impact theory. The different cases, including various wind velocity, train speed, sand particle diameter, were simulated. The train's flow field characteristics and the sand impact force were analyzed. The results show that the sand environment makes the pressure increase under different wind velocity and train speed situations. Sand impact force increases with the increasing train speed and sand particle diameter under the same particle mass flow rate. The train aerodynamic force connected with sand impact force when the train running in the wind-sand environment were compared with the aerodynamic force when the train running in the pure wind environment. The results show that the head car longitudinal force increase with wind speed increasing. When the crosswind speed is larger than 35m/s, the effect of the wind- sand environment on the train increases obviously. The longitudinal force of head car increases 23% and lateral force of tail increases 12% comparing to the pure wind environment. The sand concentration in air is the most important factor which influences the sand impact force on the train.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.103-120
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• 2009

Articulated tower platforms due to its compliant nature are more susceptible to the dynamic effects of wind than conventional fixed platforms. Dynamic response analysis of a double hinged articulated tower excited by low frequency wind forces with random waves is presented in this paper. The exposed super structure of the platform, housing the drilling and production facilities is subjected to mean and fluctuating wind loads, while the submerged portion is acted upon by wind driven waves. The fluctuating component of the wind velocity is modeled by Emil Simiu's spectrum, while the sea state is characterized by Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum. Nonlinearities in the system due to drag force, added mass, variable submergence and instantaneous tower orientation are considered in the analysis. To account for these nonlinearities, an implicit time integration scheme (Newmark's-${\beta}$) has been employed which solves the equation of motion in an iterative fashion and response time histories are obtained. The power spectra obtained from random response time histories show the significance of low frequency responses.

• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.30-37
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• 2011

A floating wind turbine dynamic simulation program, WindHydro, is newly developed taking into account wind inflow and incident wave. WindHydro consists of 5 modules, HDFloat for hydrodynamics, HDProp for hydrodynamic property calculation, HDMoor for mooring dynamics, AeroDyn for aerodynamics, DAFUL for multi-body dynamics with nonlinear elasticity, and interface program that connects each calculation module. A turbulent wind and regular wave load case is simulated for the 5-MW OC3-Hywind with a spar bouy platform and catenary mooring lines. The results are compared with the results of the FAST(developed by NREL). As a result, the overall system responses from WindHydro and FAST agree well although some differences in the generator responses are observed.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.50-57
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• 2011

A wind turbine simulation program for the coupled dynamics of aerodynamics, elasticity, multi-body dynamics and controls of turbine is newly developed by combining an aero-elastic code and a multi-body dynamics code. The aero-elastic code, based on the blade momentum theory and generalized dynamic wake theory, is developed by NREL(National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA). The multi-body dynamics code is commercial one which is capable of accounting for geometric nonlinearity and twist deflection. A turbulent wind load case is simulated for the NREL 5-MW baseline wind turbine model by the developed program and FAST. As a result, the two results agree well enough to verify the reliability of the developed program.