Tall buildings

Wind loading and structural response

Lecture 19 Dr. J.D. Holmes
Tall buildings
Very wind-sensitive in synoptic winds (including hurricanes)
Stimulated development of boundary-layer wind tunnel
Usually governed by serviceability response (peak accelerations and
deflections in top floors)
Cladding pressures can be v. high especially at unusual corners and change
of cross section
Resonant dynamic response for along- and cross-wind very significant (> 100
metres)
(Rule-of-thumb first mode frequency : 46/h Hertz (h in metres) )
Sometimes torsional response is significant depending on geometry and
structural system
Tall buildings
Empire State Building - full-scale and wind-tunnel studies in 1930s
Much stiffer in east-west direction
Y
(N-S)
X
(E-W)
o
wind
A - Mean deflection (inches)
U
h
- Mean wind speed at 1250 feet in MPH (uncorrected)
1.0






0.5


0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Angle of attack - degrees
x
x
x
N-S
E-
W
x
10
U
3
2
x
h
A
Tall buildings
Commerce Court building, Toronto, Canada - 1970s
Full-scale and wind-tunnel measurements of local cladding pressures and
overall building response (accelerations)
Studies of local pressure peaks and implications for glass design :
Acceleration measurements showed significance of torsional component (twist)
1/200 scale aeroelastic model showed good agreement with full scale
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (minutes)
Wind
pressure
World Trade Center New York 1973-2001
Tall buildings
First buildings to be tested in a turbulent
boundary-layer flow wind tunnel (mid 1960s)
Tall buildings
Flow around a tall building :
Tall buildings
Pressure fluctuations on a tall building :
(movie by Shimizu Corporation, Tokyo, Japan)
Tall buildings
Pressure fluctuations on a tall building :
(movie by Shimizu Corporation, Tokyo, Japan)
Tall buildings
Cladding pressures :
Four values of pressure coefficients :
2
h a
0
p
U
2
1
p p
C

=
2
h a
0
p
U
2
1
p p
C

=
2
h a
0
p
U
2
1
p p
C

=

2
h a
2
Cp p
U
2
1
p
C
'
= = '
Time
C
p
(t)
Cp

Cp
Cp
'
Cp

Tall buildings
Square cross section - height/width =2.1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0
-0.2 -0.2
-0.4 -0.4
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2 1.0 1.0


p
C
p
C

p
C

stagnation
point ~ 0.8h
minimum maximum
Windward wall :
Tall buildings
Square cross section - height/width =2.1
mean C
p
s :
-0.6 to -0.8
largest minimum C
p
: -3.8
Side wall (wind from left) :
-0.9
-0.9
-0.5
-0.6
-0.8
-0.8
-0.7
-0.6
-0.5
-2.2
-2.4
-2.0
-2.0
-1.8
-2.2
-2.4
-2.6
-2.8
-3.2
-3.8
-3.4
-3.0
-2.8
-2.6
-2.4
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0




p
C
p
C

p
C

Tall buildings
Square cross section - height/width =2.1
mean C
p
s :
-0.35 to -0.45
largest minimum C
p
: -1.6
Leeward wall :
-0.45 -0.45
-0.4
-0.35
-1.6
-1.6
-1.4 -1.4
-1.2
-1.6 -1.6
-0.1


p
C
p
C

p
C

Tall buildings
Glass strength under wind loading
Glass strength is dependent on duration of loading :
Microscopic flaws on tension side grow at a rate dependent on local stress
| | dt t s D
n
T
}
=
0
) (
Accumulated damage at constant temperature and humidity
(Browns integral) :
s(t) is stress; T is total time over which it acts; n is a high power (15 to 20)
Tall buildings
Glass strength under wind loading
Under wind loading p(t) : assume s(t) = K[p(t)]
m/n
(nonlinear)
i.e. mth moment of probability density function of C
p

| | dt t p E K D E
m
T
} ) ( { } {
0
}
=
p p Cp
m
p
dC C f C U KT D E ) ( ) ( } {
0
2
2
1
}

=
Tall buildings
Glass strength under wind loading
Glass testing is usually carried out with a linearly increasing ramp load :
damage produced by 1-minute ramp load :
m) (1
60.p
K
60
t .
K D
m
max
m
60
0
max
+
=
|
.
|

\
|
=
}
dt
p
time
load
failure
p
max

p
max
is specified load in glass design charts
Tall buildings
Glass strength under wind loading
C
k
is approximately equal to the peak pressure coefficient during the hour
of storm winds
C
k
= equivalent glass design pressure coefficient - gives pressure which
produces same damage in 1 hour of wind loading as that produced by a 1-
minute ramp load
(
(

|
.
|

\
|
=
+
|
.
|

\
|
}

p p Cp
m
p
m
m
k
dC C f C
m
C
) ( U
2
1
) 3600 ( K
) 1 (
U
2
1
. . 60 K.
0
2
a
2
a
writing p
max
as C
k
. (1/2)
a
U
2
, where C
k
is an equivalent glass design
pressure coefficient, and equating damage in ramp load test to that in 1
hour (3600 sec.) of wind :
m
p p Cp
m
p k
dC C f C m C
/ 1
0
) ( ) 1 ( 60
(

+ =
}

Tall buildings
Glass strength under debris impact
Glazing is vulnerable to damage and failure by roof gravel in the U.S.
ASCE-7 (6.5.9.3) requires glazing above 18.3 m above ground level, and
over 9.2m above gravel source, to be protected
Gravel acts like a sphere or cube will only go up if there is a vertical
wind velocity component
Cross-wind vibrations are usually greater than
along-wind vibrations for buildings of heights greater than
100m (330 feet)
along wind
cross wind
Tall buildings
Overall loading and dynamic response
Tall buildings
Overall loading and dynamic response
along wind
Standard deviation of deflections at top of a tall building :

1
b n
U

A
h

kx
1
h
b
a
x
x
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
=

1
b n
U

A
h

ky
1
h
b
a
y
y
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
cross wind
A
x
and A
y
- depend on building shape
k
x
- 2 to 2.5 k
y
- 2.5 to 3.5 (cross-wind)

b
- average building density
n
1
- first mode frequency q - critical damping ratio
Tall buildings
Overall loading and dynamic response
Standard deviation of deflections at top of a tall building :
Circular cross section :
10
1
5
2
10
0
5
2
10
- 1
5
2 3 5 7 10 15
wind X
Y
x
cross wind
1000 x deflection
height
oy
h
ox
h
1
Tall buildings
Overall loading and dynamic response
Deflections at top of a tall building :
Effect of cross section :
P
e
a
k

d
e
f
l
e
c
t
i
o
n

h
e
i
g
h
t
0
.001
.002
.003
.004
30 50 100 500 1000
Return period/years
D
i
r
e
c
t
i
o
n

o
f

m
o
t
i
o
n
Modification of corners are effective in reducing response
Tall buildings
Torsional loading and response
Two mechanisms :
applied moments from aerodynamic forces produced by non-uniform
pressure distributions or non-symmetric cross-sections
structural eccentricity between elastic center and geometric center
(a 10% eccentricity on a square building: doubled mean twist and increased
dynamic twist by 40-50%)
Tall buildings
Torsional loading and response
Mean torque coefficient :
depends on ratio between minimum and maximum projected widths of
the cross section
0.2





0.1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
f =
2
max
min
|
|
.
|

\
|
b
b
Tall buildings
Interference effects
Surrounding buildings can produce increases or decreases in peak wind
loads :
shows percentage change in peak cross-wind response of building B, due to
a similar building A at position (X,Y)
10b 8b 6b 4b 2b -2b
b
Building B
Wind direction
(X,Y)
Building A
V
b
2b
3b
4b
0%
+30%
+20%
+10%
-10%
+10%
+20%
X
Y
0%
-20%
increases
increases
decreases
Tall buildings
Damping
Damping is the mechanism for dissipation of vibration energy
Structural damping (Japanese buildings) :
0018 . 0 470 014 . 0
1 1

|
.
|

\
|
+ ~
h
x
n
t
q
0029 . 0 400 013 . 0
1 1
+
|
.
|

\
|
+ ~
h
x
n
t
q
reinforced concrete
steel frame
n
1
= first mode natural frequency x
t
= amplitude of vibration
Tall buildings
Damping
Auxiliary damping :
Viscoelastic damper :
used on World Trade Center buildings, New York
F/2 F/2
Steel flange
V.E. material
Centreplate
F
Tall buildings
Damping
Auxiliary damping :
Tuned mass damper :
used on CityCorp building, New York (M
2
=400 ton of concrete)
K
C
M
K
C
M
y y
1
1
1
2
2
2
2 1
(t) (t)
Tall buildings
Damping
Auxiliary damping :
Tuned liquid (sloshing) damper :
used on Shin-Yokohama hotel, Japan
h
2R
Tall buildings
Damping
Auxiliary damping :
Tuned liquid column damper :
to be used on Eureka tower building, Melbourne, Australia (under construction)
X
X
Flow
A
Orifice


End of Lecture 19

John Holmes
225-405-3789 JHolmes@lsu.edu