• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.369-383
• /
• 2022

Wind tunnel experiment was carried out to study the cross-wind layer forces on a square cross-section building model using a synchronous multi-pressure sensing system. The stationarity of measured wind loadings are firstly examined, revealing the non-stationary feature of cross-wind forces. By converting the measured non-stationary wind forces into an energetically equivalent stationary process, the characteristics of local wind forces are studied, such as power spectrum density and spanwise coherence function. Mathematical models to describe properties of cross-wind forces at different layers are thus established. Then, a conditional simulation method, which is able to ex-tend pressure measurements starting from experimentally measured points, is proposed for the cross-wind loading. The method can reproduce the non-stationary cross-wind force by simulating a stationary process and the corresponding time varying amplitudes independently; in this way the non-stationary wind forces can finally be obtained by combining the two parts together. The feasibility and reliability of the proposed method is highlighted by an ex-ample of across wind loading simulation, based on the experimental results analyzed in the first part of the paper.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.163-184
• /
• 2013

An accurate identification of the aerodynamic characteristics of vehicles and the bridge is the premise for the coupled vibration analysis of a wind-vehicle-bridge system. At present, the interaction of aerodynamic forces between the road vehicles and bridge is ignored in most previous studies. In the present study, an experimental setup was developed to measure the aerodynamic characteristics of vehicles and the bridge for different cases in a wind tunnel considering the aerodynamic interference. The influence of the wind turbulence, the wind speed, the vehicle interference, and the vehicle position on the aerodynamic coefficients of vehicles, and the influence of vehicles on the static coefficients of the bridge were investigated, based on the experimental results. The variations in the aerodynamic characteristics of vehicles and the bridge were studied and the measured results were validated according to the results of surface pressure measurements on the vehicle and the bridge. The measured results were further validated by comparing the measured results with values derived numerically. The measured results showed that the wind turbulence, the vehicle interference, and the vehicle position significantly affected the aerodynamic coefficients of vehicles. However, the influence of the wind speed on the aerodynamic coefficients of the studied vehicle is small. The static coefficients of the bridge were also significantly influenced by the presence of vehicles.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.313-350
• /
• 2016

Taipei 101 Tower, which has 101 stories with height of 508 m, is located in Taipei where typhoons and earthquakes commonly occur. It is currently the second tallest building in the world. Therefore, the dynamic performance of the super-tall building under strong wind actions requires particular attentions. In this study, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) integrated with a new inflow turbulence generator and a new sub-grid scale (SGS) model was conducted to simulate the wind loads on the super-tall building. Three-dimensional finite element model of Taipei 101 Tower was established and used to evaluate the wind-induced responses of the high-rise structure based on the simulated wind forces. The numerical results were found to be consistent with those measured from a vibration monitoring system installed in the building. Furthermore, the equivalent static wind loads on the building, which were computed by the time-domain and frequency-domain analysis, respectively, were in satisfactory agreement with available wind tunnel testing results. It has been demonstrated through the validation studies that the numerical framework presented in this paper, including the recommended SGS model, the inflow turbulence generation technique and associated numerical treatments, is a useful tool for evaluation of the wind loads and wind-induced responses of tall buildings.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.93-107
• /
• 2024

A π-shaped composite deck in the form of an open section is a type of blunt body that is highly susceptible to wind loads. To investigate its vortex-induced vibration (VIV) performance, a large-scale (1/20) section model of a cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 650 m was tested in a wind tunnel. The vibration suppression mechanism of the countermeasures was analyzed using computational fluid dynamic. Experimental results demonstrate that the vertical and torsional VIVs of the original section can be suppressed by combining guide plates with a tilt angle of 35° and bottom central stabilizing plates as aerodynamic countermeasures. Numerical results indicate that the large-scale vortex under the deck separates into smaller vortices, resulting in the disappearance of the von Kármán vortex street in the wake zone because the countermeasures effectively suppress the VIVs. Furthermore, a full-bridge aeroelastic model with a scale of 1/100 was constructed and tested to evaluate the wind resistance performance and validate the effectiveness of the proposed countermeasures.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.71-90
• /
• 2003

In recent years, high-strength, light-weight materials have been widely used in the construction of high-rise buildings. Such structures generally have flexible, low-damping characteristics. Consequently, wind-induced oscillation greatly affects the structural safety and the comfort of the building's occupants. In this research, wind tunnel experiments were carried out to study the wind-induced vibration of a building with a tuned liquid column damper (TLCD). Then, a model for predicting the aerodynamic response in the across-wind direction was generated. Finally, a computing procedure was developed for the analytical modeling of the structural oscillation in a building with a TLCD under the wind load. The model agrees substantially with the experimental results. Therefore, it may be used to accurately calculate the structural response. Results from this investigation show that the TLCD is more advantageous for reducing the across-wind vibration than the along-wind oscillation. When the across-wind aerodynamic effects are considered, the TLCD more effectively controls the aerodynamic response. Moreover, it is also more useful in suppressing the acceleration than the displacement in biaxial directions. As s result, TLCDs are effective devices for reducing the wind-induced vibration in buildings. Parametric studies have also been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the TLCD in suppressing the structural oscillation. This study may help engineers to more correctly predict the aerodynamic response of high-rise buildings as well as select the most appropriate TLCDs for reducing the structural vibration under the wind load. It may also improve the understanding of wind-structure interactions and wind resistant designs for high-rise buildings.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.12 no.6
• /
• pp.505-517
• /
• 2009

Synchronous wind-induced pressures, measured in wind-tunnel tests on model buildings instrumented with hundreds of pressure taps, are an invaluable resource for designing safe buildings efficiently. They enable a much more detailed, accurate representation of the forces and moments that drive engineering design than conventional tables and graphs do. However, the very large volumes of data that such tests typically generate pose a challenge to their widespread use in practice. This paper explains how a wavelet representation for the time series of pressure measurements acquired at each tap can be used to compress the data drastically while preserving those features that are most influential for design, and also how it enables incremental data transmission, adaptable to the accuracy needs of each particular application. The loss incurred in such compression is tunable and known. Compression rates as high as 90% induce distortions that are statistically indistinguishable from the intrinsic variability of wind-tunnel testing, which we gauge based on an unusually large collection of replicated tests done under the same wind-tunnel conditions.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.63-72
• /
• 2001

This paper presents results of a study on wind loads and wind induced dynamic response of bridge jointed twin-towered buildings. Utilizing the high-frequency force balance technique, the drag and moment coefficients measured in wind tunnel tests, and the maximum acceleration rms values on the top floor of towers, are analyzed to examine the influence of building's plan shapes and of intervals between towers. The alongwind, acrosswind and torsional modal force spectra are investigated for generic bridge jointed twin-towered building models which cover twin squares, twin rhombuses, twin triangles, twin triangles with sharp corners cut off, twin rectangles and individual rectangle with the same outline aspect ratio as the twin rectangles. The analysis of the statistical correlation among three components of the aerodynamic force corroborated that the correlation between acrosswind and torsional forces is significant for bridge jointed twin-towered buildings.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.669-691
• /
• 2014

Since low-rise residential buildings are the most common and vulnerable structures in coastal areas, a reliable prediction of their performance under hurricanes is necessary. The present study focuses on developing a refined finite element model that is able to more rigorously represent the load distributions or redistributions when the building behaves as a unit or any portion is overloaded. A typical 5:12 sloped low-rise residential building is chosen as the prototype and analyzed under wind pressures measured in the wind tunnel. The structural connections, including the frame-to-frame connections and sheathing-to-frame connections, are modeled extensively to represent the critical structural details that secure the load paths for the entire building system as well as the boundary conditions provided to the building envelope. The nail withdrawal, the excessive displacement of sheathing, the nail head pull-through, the sheathing in-plane shear, and the nail load-slip are found to be responsible for the building envelope damage. The uses of the nail type with a high withdrawal capacity, a thicker sheathing panel, and an optimized nail edge distance are observed to efficiently enhance the building envelope performance based on the present numerical damage predictions.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.61-80
• /
• 2002

Wind tunnel aeroelastic model tests of the Commonwealth Advisory Aeronautical Research Council (CAARC) standard tall building were conducted using a three-degree-of-freedom base hinged aeroelastic(BHA) model. Experimental investigation into the effects of coupled translational-torsional motion, cross-wind/torsional frequency ratio and eccentricity between centre of mass and centre of stiffness on the wind-induced response characteristics and wind excitation mechanisms was carried out. The wind tunnel test results highlight the significant effects of coupled translational-torsional motion, and eccentricity between centre of mass and centre of stiffness, on both the normalised along-wind and cross-wind acceleration responses for reduced wind velocities ranging from 4 to 20. Coupled translational-torsional motion and eccentricity between centre of mass and centre of stiffness also have significant impacts on the amplitude-dependent effect caused by the vortex resonant process, and the transfer of vibrational energy between the along-wind and cross-wind directions. These resulted in either an increase or decrease of each response component, in particular at reduced wind velocities close to a critical value of 10. In addition, the contribution of vibrational energy from the torsional motion to the cross-wind response of the building model can be greatly amplified by the effect of resonance between the vortex shedding frequency and the torsional natural frequency of the building model.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.239-253
• /
• 2019

Accurate numericalsimulation of wind field over complex terrain is an important prerequisite for wind resource assessment. In this study, numerical simulation of wind field over complex terrain was further carried out by taking the complex terrain around Siu Ho Wan station in Hong Kong as an example. By artificially expanding the original digital model data, Gambit and ICEM CFD software were used to create high-precision complex terrain model with high-quality meshing. The equilibrium atmospheric boundary layer simulation based on RANS turbulence model was carried out in a flat terrain domain, and the approximate inflow boundary conditions for the wind field simulation over complex terrain were established. Based on this, numerical simulations of wind field over complex terrain under different inflow wind directions were carried out. The numerical results were compared with the wind tunnel test and field measurement data for land and sea fetches. The results show that the numerical results are in good agreement with the wind tunnel data and the field measurement data which can verify the accuracy and reliability of the numerical simulation. The near ground wind field over complex terrain is complex and affected obviously by the terrain, and the wind field characteristics should be fully understood by numerical simulation when carrying out engineering application on it.