• Wind and Structures
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.419-430
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• 2022

In wind-resistant designs, wind velocity is assumed to be a Gaussian process; however, local complex topography may result in strong non-Gaussian wind features. This study investigates the non-Gaussian wind features over complex terrain under atmospheric turbulent boundary layers by the large eddy simulation (LES) model, and the turbulent inlet of LES is generated by the consistent discretizing random flow generation (CDRFG) method. The performance of LES is validated by two different complex terrains in Changsha and Mianyang, China, and the results are compared with wind tunnel tests and onsite measurements, respectively. Furthermore, the non-Gaussian parameters, such as skewness, kurtosis, probability curves, and gust factors, are analyzed in-depth. The results show that the LES method is in good agreement with both mean and turbulent wind fields from wind tunnel tests and onsite measurements. Wind fields in complex terrain mostly exhibit a left-skewed Gaussian process, and it changes from a softening Gaussian process to a hardening Gaussian process as the height increases. A reduction in the gust factors of about 2.0%-15.0% can be found by taking into account the non-Gaussian features, except for a 4.4% increase near the ground in steep terrain. This study can provide a reference for the assessment of extreme wind loads on structures in complex terrain.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제12권4호
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• pp.349-381
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• 2009

Since 1998, several institutions have deployed mobile instrumented towers to collect research-grade meteorological data from landfalling tropical cyclones. This study examines the wind flow characteristics from seven landfalling tropical cyclones using data collected from eight individual mobile tower deployments which occurred from 1998-2005. Gust factor, turbulence intensity, and integral scale statistics are inspected relative to changing surface roughness, mean wind speed and storm-relative position. Radar data, acquired from the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Surveillance Radar - 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) network, are examined to explore potential relationships with respect to radar reflectivity and precipitation structure (convective versus stratiform). The results indicate tropical cyclone wind flow characteristics are strongly influenced by the surrounding surface roughness (i.e., exposure) at each observation site, but some secondary storm dependencies are also documented.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.135-162
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• 2013

The majority of experiments to characterize the turbulence in the surface layer have been performed in flat, open expanses. In order to characterize the turbulence in built-up terrain, two mobile towers were deployed during Hurricane Ike (2008) in close proximity, but downwind of different terrain conditions: suburban and open. Due to the significant non-stationarity of the data primarily caused by changes in wind direction, empirical mode decomposition was employed to de-trend the signal. Analysis of the data showed that the along-wind mean turbulence intensity of the suburban terrain was 37% higher than that of the open terrain. For the mean vertical turbulence intensity, the increase for the suburban terrain was as high as 74%, which may have important implications in structural engineering. The gust factor of the suburban terrain was also 16% higher than that of the open terrain. Compared to non-hurricane spectral models, the obtained spectra showed significantly higher energy in low frequencies especially for the open terrain.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제72권5호
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• pp.541-555
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• 2019

Wind induced dynamic responses on hyperbolic cooling tower (HCT) shells are complicated functions of structure and wind properties, such as the fundamental frequency f_min, damping ratio ζ, wind velocity V, correlationship in meridian direction and so on, but comprehensions on the sensitivities of the dynamic responses to these four factors are still limited and disagree from each other. Following the dynamic calculation in time domain, features of dynamic effects were elaborated, focusing on the background and resonant components σ_B and σ_R, and their contributions to the total rms value σ_T. The σ_R is always less than σ_B when only the maximum σ_T along latitude is concerned and the contribution of σ_R to σ_T varies with responses and locations, but the σ_R couldn't be neglected for structural design. Then, parameters of the above four factors were artificially adjusted respectively and their influences on the gust responses were illustrated. The relationships of σ_R and the former three factors were expressed by fitted equations which shows certain differences from the existing equations. Moreover, a new strategy for wind tunnel tests aiming at surface pressures and the following dynamic calculations, which demands less experiment equipment, was proposed according to the influence from meridian correlationship.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.231-257
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• 2022

Transmission lines systems are important components of the electrical power infrastructure. However, these systems are vulnerable to damage from high wind events such as hurricanes. This study presents the results from a 1:50 scale aeroelastic model of a multi-span transmission lines system subjected to simulated hurricane winds. The transmission lines system considered in this study consists of three lattice towers, four spans of conductors and two end-frames. The aeroelastic tests were conducted at the NSF NHERI Wall of Wind Experimental Facility (WOW EF) at the Florida International University (FIU). A horizontal distortion scaling technique was used in order to fit the entire model on the WOW turntable. The system was tested at various wind speeds ranging from 35 m/s to 78 m/s (equivalent full-scale speeds) for varying wind directions. A system identification (SID) technique was used to evaluate experimental-based along-wind aerodynamic damping coefficients and compare with their theoretical counterparts. Comparisons were done for two aeroelastic models: (i) a self-supported lattice tower, and (ii) a multi-span transmission lines system. A buffeting analysis was conducted to estimate the response of the conductors and compare it to measured experimental values. The responses of the single lattice tower and the multi-span transmission lines system were compared. The coupling effects seem to drastically change the aerodynamic damping of the system, compared to the single lattice tower case. The estimation of the drag forces on the conductors are in good agreement with their experimental counterparts. The incorporation of the change in turbulence intensity along the height of the towers appears to better estimate the response of the transmission tower, in comparison with previous methods which assumed constant turbulence intensity. Dynamic amplification factors and gust effect factors were computed, and comparisons were made with code specific values. The resonance contribution is shown to reach a maximum of 18% and 30% of the peak response of the stand-alone tower and entire system, respectively.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.575-595
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• 2020

The characteristics of winds associated with tropical cyclones are of great significance in many engineering fields. This paper presents an investigation of wind characteristics over a coastal urban terrain based on field measurements collected from multiple cup anemometers and ultrasonic anemometers equipped at 13 height levels on a 356-m-high meteorological tower in Shenzhen during severe Typhoon Hato. Several wind quantities, including wind spectrum, gust factor, turbulence intensity and length scale as well as wind profile, are presented and discussed. Specifically, the probability distributions of fluctuating wind speeds are analyzed in connection with the normal distribution and the generalized extreme value distribution. The von Karman spectral model is found to be suitable to depict the energy distributions of three-dimensionally fluctuating winds. Gust factors, turbulence intensity and length scale are determined and discussed. Moreover, this paper presents the wind profiles measured during the typhoon, and a comparative study of the vertical distribution of wind speeds from the field measurements and existing empirical models is performed. The influences of the topography features and wind speeds on the wind profiles were investigated based on the field-measured wind records. In general, the empirical models can provide reasonable predictions for the measured wind speed profiles over a typical coastal urban area during a severe typhoon.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.1-15
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• 2012

High-resolution wind data were acquired from a 100-m high offshore tower during the passage of Typhoon Hagupit in September, 2008. The meteorological tower was equipped with an ultrasonic anemometer and a number of cup anemometers at heights between 10 and 100 m. Wind characteristics of the strong typhoon, such as mean wind speed and wind direction, turbulence intensity, turbulence integral length scale, gust factor and power spectra of wind velocity, vertical profiles of mean wind speed were investigated in detail based on the wind data recorded during the strong typhoon. The measured results revealed that the wind characteristics in different stages during the typhoon varied remarkably. Through comparison with non-typhoon wind measurements, the phenomena of enhanced levels of turbulence intensity, gust factors, turbulence integral length scale and spectral magnitudes in typhoon boundary layer were observed. The monitored data and analysis results are expected to be useful for the wind-resistant design of offshore structures and buildings on seashores in typhoon-prone regions.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제10권5호
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• pp.401-420
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• 2007

Field measurements of the wind-induced response of two residential reinforced concrete buildings, among the tallest in the world, have been performed during two typhoons. Natural periods and damping values have been determined and compared with other field measurements and empirical predictors. Suitable and common empirical predictors of natural period and structural damping have been obtained that describe the trend of tall, reinforced concrete buildings whose structural vibrations have been measured in the collection of studies in Hong Kong compiled by the authors. This data is especially important as the amount of information known about the dynamic parameters of buildings of these heights is limited. Effects of the variation of the natural period and damping values on the alongwind response of a tall building for serviceability-level wind conditions have been profiled using the gust response factor approach. When using this approach on these two buildings, the often overestimated natural periods and structural damping values suggested by empirical predictors tended to offset each other. Gust response factors calculated using the natural periods and structural damping values measured in the field were smaller than if calculated using design-stage values.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.315-329
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• 2023

We investigated the wind characteristics in the near-surface layer during the landfall of Typhoon Mujigae (2015) based on observations from wind towers in the coastal areas of Guandong province. Typhoon Mujigae made landfall in this region from 01:00 UTC to 10:00 UTC on October 4, 2015. In the region influenced by the eyewall of the tropical cyclone, the horizontal wind speed was characterized by a double peak, the wind direction changed by >180°, the vertical wind speed increased by three to four times, and the angle of attack increased significantly to a maximum of 7°, exceeding the recommended values in current design criteria. The vertical wind profile may not conform to a power law distribution in the near-surface layer in the region impacted by the eyewall and spiral rainband. The gust factors were relatively dispersed when the horizontal wind speed was small and tended to a smaller value and became more stable with an increase in the horizontal wind speed. The variation in the gust factors was the combined result of the height, wind direction, and circulation systems of the tropical cyclone. The turbulence intensity and the downwind turbulence energy spectrum both increased notably in the eyewall and spiral rainband and no longer satisfied the assumption of isotropy in the inertial subrange and the -5/3 law. This result was more significant in the eyewall area than in the spiral rainband. These results provide a reference for forecasting tropical cyclones, wind-resistant design, and hazard prevention in coastal areas of China to reduce the damage caused by high winds induced by tropical cyclones.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.255-270
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• 2006

Several analytical procedures available in literature, for the evaluation of wind induced fatigue damage of structures, either assume the wide band random stress variations as narrow band random process or use correction factors along with narrow band assumption. This paper compares the correction factors obtained using the Rainflow Cycle (RFC) counting of the measured stress time histories on a lamp mast and a lattice tower, with those evaluated using different frequency domain methods available in literature. A Bi-modal spectral method has been formulated by idealising the single spectral moment method into two modes of background and resonant components, as considered in the gust response factor, for the evaluation of fatigue of slender structures subjected to "along-wind vibrations". A closed form approximation for the effective frequency of the background component has been developed. The simplicity and the accuracy of the new method have been illustrated through a case study by simulating stress time histories at the base of an urban light pole for different mean wind speeds. The correction factors obtained by the Bi-modal spectral method have been compared with those obtained from the simulated stress time histories using RFC counting method. The developed Bi-modal method is observed to be a simple and easy to use alternative to detailed time and frequency domain fatigue analyses without considerable computational and experimental efforts.