• Wind and Structures
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.315-329
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• 2019

Non-synoptic winds have distinctive statistical properties compared to synoptic winds and can produce different wind loads on buildings and structures. The current study uses the new capabilities of the WindEEE Dome at Western University to replicate a stationary non-Gaussian wind event recorded at the Port of La Spezia in Italy. These stationary non-Gaussian wind events are also known as intermediate wind events as they differ from non-stationary non-Gaussian events (e.g., downbursts) as well as stationary Gaussian events (e.g., atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flows). In the present study, the wind loads on a typical low-rise building are investigated for an intermediate wind event reproduced using a continuous radial impinging jet (IJ) at the WindEEE Dome. For the same building model, differences in wind loads between ABL and IJ are also examined. Wind loads on different surface zones on the building, as defined in the ASCE code for design loads, are also calculated and compared with the code.

• 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.34 no.5
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• pp.395-405
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• 2022

Tornado-induced damages to high-rise buildings and low-rise buildings are quite different in nature. Tornado losses to high-rise buildings are generally associated with building envelope failures while tornado-induced damages to low-rise buildings are usually associated with structural or large component failures such as complete collapses, or roofs being torn off. While studies of tornado-induced structural damages tend to focus mainly on low-rise residential buildings, transmission towers, or nuclear power plants, the current rapid expansion of city centers and development of large-scale building complexes increases the risk of tornadoes impacting tall buildings. It is, therefore, important to determine how tornado-induced load affects tall buildings compared with those based on synoptic boundary layer winds. The present study applies an experimentally simulated tornado wind field to the Commonwealth Advisory Aeronautical Research Council (CAARC) building and estimates and compares its pressure coefficient effects against the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) flow field. Simulations are performed at the Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome which is capable of generating both ABL and tornadic winds. A model of the CAARC building at a scale of 1:200 for both ABL and tornado flows was built and equipped with pressure taps. Mean and peak surface pressures for TLV flow are reported and compared with the ABL induced wind for different time-averaging. By following a compatible definition of the pressure coefficients for TLV and ABL fields, the resulting TLV pressure field presents a similar trend to the ABL case. Also, the results show that, for the high-rise building model, the mean and 3-sec peak pressures are larger for the ABL case compared to the TLV case. These results provide a way forward for the code implementation of tornado-induced pressures on high-rise buildings.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.447-462
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• 2021

High spatial and temporal surface pressure measurements were carried out in the state-of-the-art tornado simulator, the Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome, to explore the characteristics of stationary and translating tornado-like vortices (TLV) for a wide range of swirl ratios (S=0.21 to 1.03). The translational speed of the TLV and the surface roughness were varied to examine their effects on tornado ground pressures, wandering, and vortex structure. It was found that wandering is more pronounced at low swirl ratios and has a substantial effect on the peak pressure magnitude for stationary TLV (error percentage ≤ 35%). A new method for removing wandering was proposed which is applicable for a wide range of swirl ratios. For translating TLV, the near-surface part lagged behind the top of the vortex, resulting in a tilt of the tornado vertical axis at higher translating speeds. Also, a veering motion of the tornado base towards the left of the direction of the translation was observed. Wandering was less pronounced for higher translation speeds. Increasing the surface roughness caused an analogous effect as lowering the swirl ratio.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.437-446
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• 2021

As wind turbine rotors increase, the overall loads and dynamic response become an important issue. This problem is augmented by the exposure of wind turbines to severe atmospheric events with unconventional flows such as tornadoes, which need specific designs not included in standards and codes at present. An experimental study was conducted to analyze the loads induced by a tornado-like vortex (TLV) on horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT). A large-scale tornado simulation developed in The Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome at Western University in Canada, the so-called Mode B Tornado, was employed as the TLV flow acting on a rigid wind turbine model under two rotor operational conditions (idling and parked) for five radial distances. It was observed that the overall forces and moments depend on the location and orientation of the wind turbine system with respect to the tornado vortex centre, as TLV are three-dimensional flows with velocity gradients in the radial, vertical, and tangential direction. The mean bending moment at the tower base was the most important in terms of magnitude and variation in relation to the position of the HAWT with respect to the core radius of the tornado, and it was highly dependent on the rotor Tip Speed Ratio (TSR).

• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.303-312
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• 2022

As wind turbine rotors increase, the overall loads and dynamic response become an important issue. This problem is augmented by the exposure of wind turbines to severe atmospheric events with unconventional flows such as tornadoes, which need specific designs not included in standards and codes at present. An experimental study was conducted to analyze the loads induced by a tornado-like vortex (TLV) on horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT). A large-scale tornado simulation developed in The Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome at Western University in Canada, the so-called Mode B Tornado, was employed as the TLV flow acting on a rigid wind turbine model under two rotor operational conditions (idling and parked) for five radial distances. It was observed that the overall forces and moments depend on the location and orientation of the wind turbine system with respect to the tornado vortex centre, as TLV are three-dimensional flows with velocity gradients in the radial, vertical, and tangential direction. The mean bending moment at the tower base was the most important in terms of magnitude and variation in relation to the position of the HAWT with respect to the core radius of the tornado, and it was highly dependent on the rotor Tip Speed Ratio (TSR).

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.71-88
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• 2018

At the University of Western Ontario (UWO), numerical tools represented in semi-closed form solution for the conductors and finite element modeling of the lattice tower were developed and utilized significantly to assess the behavior of transmission lines under downburst wind fields. Although these tools were validated against other finite element analyses, it is essential to validate the findings of those tools using experimental data. This paper reports the first aeroelastic test for a multi-span transmission line under simulated downburst. The test has been conducted at the three-dimensional wind testing facility, the WindEEE dome, located at the UWO. The experiment considers various downburst locations with respect to the transmission line system. Responses obtained from the experiment are analyzed in the current study to identify the critical downburst locations causing maximum internal forces in the structure (i.e., potential failure modes), which are compared with the failure modes obtained from the numerical tools. In addition, a quantitative comparison between the measured critical responses obtained from the experiment with critical responses obtained from the numerical tools is also conducted. The study shows a very good agreement between the critical configurations of the downburst obtained from the experiment compared to those predicted previously by different numerical studies. In addition, the structural responses obtained from the experiment and those obtained from the numerical tools are in a good agreement where a maximum difference of 16% is found for the mean responses and 25% for the peak responses.