• Wind and Structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.391-422
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• 2014

The high frequency force balance (HFFB) technique provides convenient measurements of integrated forces on rigid building models in terms of base bending moments and torque and/or base shear forces. These base moments or forces are then used to approximately estimate the generalized forces of building fundamental modes with mode shape corrections. This paper presents an analysis framework for coupled dynamic response of tall buildings with HFFB technique. The empirical mode shape corrections for generalized forces with coupled mode shapes are validated using measurements of synchronous pressures on a square building surface from a wind tunnel. An alternative approach for estimating the mean and background response components directly using HFFB measurements without mode shape corrections is introduced with a discussion on higher mode contributions. The uncertainty in the mode shape corrections and its influence on predicted responses of buildings with both uncoupled and coupled modal shapes are examined. Furthermore, this paper presents a comparison of aerodynamic base moment spectra with available data sets for various tall building configurations. Finally, e-technology aspects in conjunction with HFFB technique such as web-based on-line analysis framework for buildings with uncoupled mode shapes used in NALD (NatHaz Aerodynamic Loads Database) is discussed, which facilitates the use of HFFB data for preliminary design stages of tall buildings subject to wind loads.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.367-379
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• 2024

Compared with traditional transmission towers, T-shaped angle towers have long cross-arms and are specially used for ultrahigh-voltage direct-current (UHVDC) transmission. Nevertheless, the wind loads of T-shaped towers have not received much attention in previous studies. Consequently, a series of wind tunnel tests on the T-shaped towers featuring cross-arms of varying lengths were conducted using the high-frequency force balance (HFFB) technique. The test results reveal that the T-shaped tower's drag coefficients nearly remain constant at different testing velocities, demonstrating that Reynolds number effects are negligible in the test range of 1.26 × 10⁴-2.30 × 10⁴. The maximum values of the longitudinal base shear and torsion of the T-shaped tower are reached at 15° and 25° of wind incidence, respectively. In the yaw angle, the crosswind coefficients of the tower body are quite small, whereas those of the cross-arms are significant, and as a result, the assumption in some load codes (such as ASCE 74-2020, IEC 60826-2017 and EN 50341-1:2012) that the resultant force direction is the same as the wind direction may be inappropriate for the cross-arm situation. The fitting formulas for the wind load-distribution factors of the tower body and cross-arms are developed, respectively, which would greatly facilitate the determination of the wind loads on T-shaped angle towers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.49-56
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• 2013

In this paper, used by the boundary layer wind tunnel test, have conducted a series of wind tunnel experiments, i.e. test the mean velocity profile regarding the surface roughness, turbulence intensity and power spectrum measured by augmentation device. After that, to provide data relevant for the preliminary design step of tall building hazard fluctuating wind loads may be obtained fluctuating pressure coefficients, fluctuating pressure spectrum, autocorrelation coefficients by the boundary layer wind tunnel test. From the results of experiments, this study can be obtained conclusions as follows. 1. We know the fact that the mean velocity profile and the turbulence intensity are well fitted natural wind flow in the boundary layer wind tunnel. 2. The satisfactory agreement of velocity spectrum can be obtained from the compare of fluctuating power spectrum and Von Karman spectrum. 3. We know the fact that the fluctuating pressure spectrums distributed peak at 0.01 Hz-0.1 Hz in the windward surfaces and at 0.1 Hz in the leeward surfaces. 4. We know the fact that the autocorrelation coefficients distributed stationary random processes with application time of hazard fluctuating wind loads.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.323-337
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• 2019

Wind tunnel testing technique has been established as a powerful experimental method for predicting wind-induced loads on high-rise buildings. Accurate assessment of the design wind load combinations for tall buildings on the basis of wind tunnel tests is an extremely important and complicated issue. The traditional design practice for determining wind load combinations relies partly on subjective judgments and lacks a systematic and reliable method of evaluating critical load cases. This paper presents a novel optimization-based framework for determining wind tunnel derived load cases for the structural design of wind sensitive tall buildings. The peak factor is used to predict the expected maximum resultant responses from the correlated three-dimensional wind loads measured at each wind angle. An optimized convex hull is further developed to serve as the design envelope in which the peak values of the resultant responses at any azimuth angle are enclosed to represent the critical wind load cases. Furthermore, the appropriate number of load cases used for design purposes can be predicted based on a set of Pareto solutions. One 30-story building example is used to illustrate the effectiveness and practical application of the proposed optimization-based technique for the evaluation of peak resultant wind-induced load cases.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.4
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• pp.449-459
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• 2017

High-rise buildings are generally sensitive to strong winds. The evaluation of wind loads for the structural design, structural health monitoring (SHM), and vibration control of high-rise buildings is of primary importance. Nevertheless, it is difficult or even infeasible to measure the wind loads on an existing building directly. In this regard, a new inverse method for evaluating wind loads on high-rise buildings is developed in this study based on a discrete-time Kalman filter. The unknown structural responses are identified in conjunction with the wind loads on the basis of limited structural response measurements. The algorithm is applicable for estimating wind loads using different types of wind-induced response. The performance of the method is comprehensively investigated based on wind tunnel testing results of two high-rise buildings with typical external shapes. The stability of the proposed algorithm is evaluated. Furthermore, the effects of crucial factors such as cross-section shapes of building, the wind-induced response type, errors of structural modal parameters, covariance matrix of noise, noise levels in the response measurements and number of vibration modes on the identification accuracy are examined through a detailed parametric study. The research outputs of the proposed study will provide valuable information to enhance our understanding of the effects of wind on high-rise buildings and improve codes of practice.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.27-40
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• 2006

Damage of cut-and-cover tunnel lining can be attributed to physical and mechanical factors. Physical factors include material property, reinforcement corrosion, etc. while mechanical factors include underground water pressure, vehicle loads, etc. This study is limited to the modeling of rigid circular cut and cover tunnel constructed at a depth of $1.0{\sim}1.5D$ in loose sandy ground and subjected to a vibration frequency of 100 Hz. In this study, only damages due to mechanical factors in the form of additional loads were considered. Among the different types of additional, excessive earth pressure acting on the cut-and-cover tunnel lining is considered as one of the major factors that induce deformation and damage of tunnels after the construction is completed. Excessive earth pressure may be attributed to insufficient compaction, consolidation due to self-weight of backfill soil, precipitation and vibration caused by traffic. Laboratory tunnel model tests were performed in order to determine the earth pressure acting on the tunnel lining and to investigate the applicability of existing earth pressure formulas. Based on the difference in the monitored and computed earth pressure, a factor of safety was recommended. Soil deformation mechanism around the tunnel was also presented using the picture analysis method.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2023

This paper presents a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis to investiagate the effect of expansion chamber on overpressure reduction in protective tunnels subjected to detonation of high explosives. A commercial CFD code, Viper::Blast, was used to model the blast waves in a protective tunnel with a length of 160 m, width of 8.9 m and height of 7.2 m. Blast scenarios and simulation matrix were establihsed in consideration of the design parameters of expansion chamber, including the chamber lengths of 6.1 m to 12.1 m, widths of 10.7 m to 97 m, length to width ratios of 0.0 to 5.0, heights of 8.0 m and 14.9 m, and ratios of chamber to tunnel width of 1.2 to 10.9 m. A charge weight of TNT of 1000 kg was used. The mesh sizes of the numerical model of the protective tunnel were determined based on a mesh convergence study. A parametric study based on the simulation matrix was performed using the proposed CFD tunnel model and the optimized shape of expansion chamber of the considered tunnel was then proposed based on the numerical results. Design recommendations for the use of expansion chamber in protective tunnel under blast loads to reduce the internal overpressures were finally provided.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.449-468
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• 2015

Current wind-resistance designs of large-scale indirect dry cooling towers (IDCTs) exclude an important factor: the influence of the ventilation rate for radiator shutter on wind loads on the outer surfaces of the tower shell. More seemingly overlooked aspects are the effects of various ventilation rates on the wind pressure distribution on the tower surfaces of two IDCTs, and the feature of the flow field around them. In order to investigate the effects of the radiator shutter ventilation rates on the aerodynamic interference between IDCTs, this paper established the numerical wind tunnel model based on the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) technology, and analyzed the influences of various radiator shutter ventilation rates on the aerodynamic loads acting upon a single and two extra-large IDCTs during building, installation, and operation stages. Through the comparison with the results of physical wind tunnel test and different design codes, the results indicated that: the influence of the ventilation rate on the flow field and shape coefficients on the outer surface of a single IDCT is weak, and the curve of mean shape coefficients is close to the reference curve provided by the current design code. In a two-tower combination, the ventilation rate significantly affects the downwind surface of the front tower and the upwind surface of the back tower, and the larger positive pressure shifts down along the upwind surface of the back tower as the ventilation rate increases. The ventilation rate significantly influences the drag force coefficient of the back tower in a two-tower combination, the drag force coefficient increases with the ventilation rate and reaches the maximum in a building status of full ventilation, and the maximum drag coefficient is 11% greater than that with complete closure.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.423-441
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• 2014

The high frequency base balance (HFBB) technique is a convenient and relatively fast wind tunnel testing technique for predicting wind-induced forces for tall building design. While modern tall building design has seen a number architecturally remarkable buildings constructed recently, the characteristics of those buildings are significantly different to those that were common when the HFBB technique was originally developed. In particular, the prediction of generalized forces for buildings with 3-dimensional mode shapes has a number of inherent uncertainties and challenges that need to be overcome to accurately predict building loads and responses. As an alternative to the more conventional application of general mode shape correction factors, an analysis methodology, referred to as the linear-mode-shape (LMS) method, has been recently developed to allow better estimates of the generalized forces by establishing a new set of centers at which the translational mode shapes are linear. The LMS method was initially evaluated and compared with the methods using mode shape correction factors for a rectangular building, which was wind tunnel tested in isolation in an open terrain for five incident wind angles at $22.5^{\circ}$ increments from $0^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$. The results demonstrated that the LMS method provides more accurate predictions of the wind-induced loads and building responses than the application of mode shape correction factors. The LMS method was subsequently applied to a tall building project in Hong Kong. The building considered in the current study is located in a heavily developed business district and surrounded by tall buildings and mixed terrain. The HFBB results validated the versatility of the LMS method for the structural design of an actual tall building subjected to the varied wind characteristics caused by the surroundings. In comparison, the application of mode shape correction factors in the HFBB analysis did not directly take into account the influence of the site specific characteristics on the actual wind loads, hence their estimates of the building responses have a higher variability.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.107-116
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• 2019

The use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is becoming an increasingly popular means to model wind flows in and around buildings. The first published application of CFD to both indoor and outdoor building airflows was in the 1970's. Since then, CFD usage has expanded to include different aspects of building design. Wind tunnel testing (WTT) on buildings for wind loads goes back as far as 1908. Gustave Eiffel built a pair of wind tunnels in 1908 and 1912. Using these he published wind loads on an aircraft hangar in 1919 as cited in Hoerner (1965 - page 74). The second of these wind tunnels is still in use today for tests including building design ($Damljanovi{\acute{c}}$, 2012). The Empire State Building was tested in 1933 in smooth flow - see Baskaran (1993). The World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City were wind tunnel tested in the mid-sixties for both wind loads, at Colorado State University (CSU) and the [US] National Physical Laboratory (NPL), as well as pedestrian level winds (PLW) at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) - Baskaran (1993). Since then, the understanding of the planetary boundary layer, recognition of the structures of turbulent wakes, instrumentation, methodologies and analysis have been continuously refined. There is a drive to replace WTT with computational methods, with the rationale that CFD is quicker, less expensive and gives more information and control to the architects. However, there is little information available to building owners and architects on the limitations of CFD for flows around buildings and communities. Hence building owners, developers, engineers and architects are not aware of the risks they incur by using CFD for different studies, traditionally conducted using wind tunnels. This paper will explain what needs to happen for CFD to replace wind tunnels. Ultimately, we anticipate the reader will come to the same conclusion that we have drawn: both WTT and CFD will continue to play important roles in building and infrastructure design. The most pressing challenge for the design and engineering community is to understand the strengths and limitations of each tool so that they can leverage and exploit the benefits that each offers while adhering to our moral and professional obligation to hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.