• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.485-505
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• 2014

This study aimed to develop an approach to accurately predict the wind models and wind effects of large wind turbines. The wind-induced vibration characteristics of a 5 MW tower-blade coupled wind turbine system have been investigated in this paper. First, the blade-tower integration model was established, which included blades, nacelle, tower and the base of the wind turbine system. The harmonic superposition method and modified blade element momentum theory were then applied to simulate the fluctuating wind field for the rotor blades and tower. Finally, wind-induced responses and equivalent static wind loads (ESWL) of the system were studied based on the modified consistent coupling method, which took into account coupling effects of resonant modes, cross terms of resonant and background responses. Furthermore, useful suggestions were proposed to instruct the wind resistance design of large wind turbines. Based on obtained results, it is shown from the obtained results that wind-induced responses and ESWL were characterized with complicated modal responses, multi-mode coupling effects, and multiple equivalent objectives. Compared with the background component, the resonant component made more contribution to wind-induced responses and equivalent static wind loads at the middle-upper part of the tower and blades, and cross terms between background and resonant components affected the total fluctuation responses, while the background responses were similar with the resonant responses at the bottom of tower.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.421-447
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• 2004

This paper presents a time domain approach for predicting buffeting response of long suspension bridges under skew winds. The buffeting forces on an oblique strip of the bridge deck in the mean wind direction are derived in terms of aerodynamic coefficients measured under skew winds and equivalent fluctuating wind velocities with aerodynamic impulse functions included. The time histories of equivalent fluctuating wind velocities and then buffeting forces along the bridge deck are simulated using the spectral representation method based on the Gaussian distribution assumption. The self-excited forces on an oblique strip of the bridge deck are represented by the convolution integrals involving aerodynamic impulse functions and structural motions. The aerodynamic impulse functions of self-excited forces are derived from experimentally measured flutter derivatives under skew winds using rational function approximations. The governing equation of motion of a long suspension bridge under skew winds is established using the finite element method and solved using the Newmark numerical method. The proposed time domain approach is finally applied to the Tsing Ma suspension bridge in Hong Kong. The computed buffeting responses of the bridge under skew winds during Typhoon Sam are compared with those obtained from the frequency domain approach and the field measurement. The comparisons are found satisfactory for the bridge response in the main span.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.119-144
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• 2017

The traditional method for the simulation of high Reynolds number (Re) effects on wind loads on cooling tower models in wind tunnels focuses only on the mean wind pressure distribution. Based on observed effects of some key factors on static/dynamic flow characteristics around cooling towers, the study reported in this paper describes a comprehensive simulation method using both mean and fluctuating wind pressure distributions at high Re as simulation targets, which is indispensable for obtaining the complete full-scale wind effects in wind tunnels. After being presented in this paper using a case study, the proposed method is examined by comparing the full covariance matrices and the cross-spectral densities of the simulated cases with those of the full-scale case. Besides, the cooling tower's dynamic structural responses obtained using the simulated wind pressure fields are compared with those obtained by using the full-scale one. Through these works, the applicability and superiority of the proposed method is validated.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.165-183
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• 2020

The first step of performance-based design for transmission lines is the determination of wind fields as well as wind loads, which are largely depending on local wind climate and the surrounding terrain. Wind fields in a mountainous area are very different with that in a flat terrain. This paper firstly investigated both mean and fluctuating wind characteristics of a typical mountainous wind field by wind tunnel tests and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The speedup effects of mean wind and specific turbulence properties, i.e., turbulence intensity, power spectral density (PSD) and coherence function, are highlighted. Then a hybrid simulation framework for generating three dimensional (3D) wind velocity field in the mountainous area was proposed by combining the CFD and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method given the properties of the target turbulence field. Finally, a practical 220 kV transmission line was employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed wind field generation framework and its role in the performance-based design. It was found that the terrain-induce turbulence effects dominate the performance-based structural design of transmission lines running through the mountainous area.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.253-283
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• 2011

This paper presents the field measurement results of wind effects on a super-tall building (CITIC Plaza, 391 m high) located in Guangzhou. The field data such as wind speed, wind direction and acceleration responses were simultaneously and continuously recorded from the tall building by a wind and vibration monitoring system during two typhoons. The typhoon-generated wind characteristics including turbulence intensity, gust factor, peak factor, turbulence integral length scale and power spectral density of fluctuating wind speed were presented and discussed. The dynamic characteristics of the tall building were determined based on the field measurements and compared with those calculated from a 3D finite element model of the building. The measured natural frequencies of the two fundamental sway modes of the building were found to be larger than those calculated. The damping ratios of the building were evaluated by the random decrement technique, which demonstrated amplitude-dependent characteristics. The field measured acceleration responses were compared with wind tunnel test results, which were found to be consistent with the model test data. Finally, the serviceability performance of the super-tall building was assessed based on the field measurement results.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.91-106
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• 2003

The paper presents the results of 1:50 geometrical scale laboratory modeling of wind-induced point pressure on the roof of the Texas Tech University (TTU) test building. The nominal (prevalent at the TTU site) wind and two bounding (low and high turbulence) flows were simulated in a boundary-layer wind tunnel at Colorado State University. The results showed significant increase in the pressure peak and standard deviation with an increase in the flow turbulence. It was concluded that the roof mid-plane pressure sensitivity to the turbulence intensity was the cause of the previously reported field-laboratory mismatch of the fluctuating pressure, for wind normal and $30^{\circ}$-off normal to the building ridge. In addition, it was concluded that the cornering wind mismatch in the roof corner/edge regions could not be solely attributed to the wind-azimuth-independent discrepancy between the turbulence intensity of the approach field and laboratory flows.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.589-608
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• 2013

A model is proposed to analyse the along-wind dynamic response of upwind turbines with horizontal axis under service wind conditions. The model takes into account the dynamic coupling effect between rotor blades and supporting tower. The wind speed field is decomposed into a mean component, accounting for the well-known wind shear effect, and a fluctuating component, treated through a spectral approach. Accordingly, the so-called rotationally sampled spectra are introduced for the blades to account for the effect of their rotating motion. Wind forces acting on the rotor blades are calculated according to the blade element momentum model. The tower shadow effect is also included in the present model. Two examples of a large and medium size wind turbines are modelled, and their dynamic response is analysed and compared with the results of a conventional static analysis.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.341-354
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• 2021

Articulated towers are one of the class of compliant offshore structures that freely oscillates with wind and waves, as they are designed to have low natural frequency than ocean waves. The present study deals with the dynamic response of a double-pendulum articulated tower under hydrodynamic and aerodynamic loads. The wind field is simulated by two approaches, namely, single-point and multiple-point. Nonlinearities such as instantaneous tower orientation, variable added mass, fluctuating buoyancy, and geometrical nonlinearities are duly considered in the analysis. Hamilton's principle is used to derive the nonlinear equations of motion (EOM). The EOM is solved in the time domain by using the Wilson-θ method. The maximum, minimum, mean, and standard deviation and salient power spectral density functions (PSDF) of deck displacement, bending moment, and central hinge shear are drawn for high and moderate sea states. The outcome of the analyses shows that tower response under multiple-point wind-field simulation results in lower responses when compared to that of single-point simulation.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.397-413
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• 2018

Excitation mechanism of interference effect between two tall buildings is investigated with wind tunnel experiments. Synchronized building surface pressure and flow field measurements by particle image velocimetry (PIV) are conducted to explore the relationship between the disturbed wind flow field and the consequent wind load modification for twin buildings in tandem. This reveals evident excitation mechanisms for the fluctuating across-wind loads on the buildings. For small distance (X/D < 3) between two buildings, the disturbed flow pattern of impaired vortex shedding is observed and the fluctuating across-wind load on the downstream building decreases. For larger distance ($X/D{\geq}3$), strong correlation between the across-wind load of the downstream building and the oscillation of the wake of the upstream building is found. By further analysis with conditional sampling and phase-averaged techniques, the coherent flow structures in the building gap are clearly observed and the wake oscillation of the upstream building is confirmed to be the reason of the magnified across-wind force on the downstream building. For efficient PIV measurement, the experiments use a square-section high-rise building model with geometry scale smaller than the usual value. Interference factors for all three components of wind loads on the building models being surrounded by another identical building with various configurations are measured and compared with those from previous studies made at large geometry scale. The results support that for interference effect between buildings with sharp corners, the length scale effect plays a minor role provided that the minimum Reynolds number requirement is met.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.367-383
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• 2016

The influence mechanism of mean value components, noted as $P_0$, on POD applications for complete random fields $P_C(t)$ and fluctuating random fields $P_F(t)$ are illustrated mathematically. The critical philosophy of the illustration is introduction of a new matrix, defined as the correlation function matrix of $P_0$, which connect the correlation function matrix of $P_C(t)$ and $P_F(t)$, and their POD results. Then, POD analyses for several different wind pressure fields were presented comparatively as validation. It's inevitable mathematically that the first eigenmode of $P_C(t)$ resembles the distribution of $P_0$ and the first eigenvalue of $P_C(t)$ is close to the energy of $P_0$, due to similarity of the correlation function matrixs of $P_C(t)$ and $P_0$. However, the viewpoint is not rigorous mathematically that the first mode represents the mean pressure and the following modes represent the fluctuating pressure when $P_C(t)$ are employed in POD application. When $P_C(t)$ are employed, POD results of all modes would be distorted by the mean value components, and it's impossible to identify $P_0$ and $P_F(t)$ separately. Consequently, characteristics of the fluctuating component, which is always the primary concern in wind pressure field analysis, can only be precisely identified with $P_0$ excluded in POD.