Showing papers in "Wind and Structures in 2008"

A forensic study of the Lubbock-Reese downdraft of 2002

Abstract: This paper discusses engineering aspects of the rear-flank downdraft that was recorded near Lubbock, Texas on 4 June 2002, and produced a gust wind speed nearly equal to the design value (50-year return period) for the region. The general characteristics of the storm, and the decomposition of the time histories into deterministic 'running mean' and random turbulence components are discussed. The fluctuating wind speeds generated by the event can be represented as a dominant low-frequency 'running-mean', with superimposed random turbulence of higher frequencies. Spectral and correlation characteristics of the residual turbulence are found to be similar to those of high-frequency turbulence in boundary-layer winds. However, the low-frequency components in the running-mean wind speeds are spatially homogeneous, in contrast to the low-frequency turbulence found in synoptic boundary-layer winds. With respect to transmission line design, this results in significantly higher 'span reduction factors'.

Swirl ratio effects on tornado vortices in relation to the Fujita scale

Abstract: Three-dimensional engineering simulations of momentum-driven tornado-like vortices are conducted to investigate the flow dynamics dependency on swirl ratio and the possible relation with real tornado Fujita scales. Numerical results are benchmarked against the laboratory experimental results of Baker (1981) for a fixed swirl ratio: S = 0.28. The simulations are then extended for higher swirl ratios up to S = 2 and the variation of the velocity and pressure flow fields are observed. The flow evolves from the formation of a laminar vortex at low swirl ratio to turbulent vortex breakdown, followed by the vortex touch down at higher swirls. The high swirl ratios results are further matched with full scale data from the Spencer, South Dakota F4 tornado of May 30, 1998 (Sarkar, et al. 2005) and approximate velocity and length scales are determined.

Pedestrian wind conditions at outdoor platforms in a high-rise apartment building: generic sub-configuration validation, wind comfort assessment and uncertainty issues

Abstract: CFD is applied to evaluate pedestrian wind comfort at outdoor platforms in a high-rise apartment building. Model validation is focused on generic building sub-configurations that are obtained by decomposition of the actual complex building geometry. The comfort study is performed during the design stage, which allows structural design changes to be made for wind comfort improvement. Preliminary simulations are performed to determine the effect of different design modifications. A full wind comfort assessment study is conducted for the final design. Structural remedial measures for this building, aimed at reducing pressure short-circuiting, appear to be successful in bringing the discomfort probability estimates down to acceptable levels. Finally, the importance of one of the main sources of uncertainty in this type of wind comfort studies is illustrated. It is shown that the uncertainty about the terrain roughness classification can strongly influence the outcome of wind comfort studies and can lead to wrong decisions. This problem is present to the same extent in both wind tunnel and CFD wind comfort studies when applying the same particular procedure for terrain relation contributions as used in this paper.

CFD simulations of the flow field of a laboratory-simulated tornado for parameter sensitivity studies and comparison with field measurements

Abstract: A better understanding of tornado-induced wind loads is needed to improve the design of typical structures to resist these winds. An accurate understanding of the loads requires knowledge of near-ground tornado winds, but observations in this region are lacking. The first goal of this study was to verify how well a CFD model, when driven by far field radar observations and laboratory measurements, could capture the flow characteristics of both full scale and laboratory-simulated tornadoes. A second goal was to use the model to examine the sensitivity of the simulations to various parameters that might affect the laboratory simulator tornado. An understanding of near-ground winds in tornadoes will require coordinated efforts in both computational and physical simulation. The sensitivity of computational simulations of a tornado to geometric parameters and surface roughness within a domain based on the Iowa State University laboratory tornado simulator was investigated. In this study, CFD simulations of the flow field in a model domain that represents a laboratory tornado simulator were conducted using Doppler radar and laboratory velocity measurements as boundary conditions. The tornado was found to be sensitive to a variety of geometric parameters used in the numerical model. Increased surface roughness was found to reduce the tangential speed in the vortex near the ground and enlarge the core radius of the vortex. The core radius was a function of the swirl ratio while the peak tangential flow was a function of the magnitude of the total inflow velocity. The CFD simulations showed that it is possible to numerically simulate the surface winds of a tornado and control certain parameters of the laboratory simulator to influence the tornado characteristics of interest to engineers and match those of the field.

Systematic influence of different building spacing, height and layout on mean wind and turbulent characteristics within and over urban building arrays

Abstract: Large eddy simulations have been performed within and over different types of urban building arrays. This paper adopted three dimensionless parameters, building frontal area density () the variation degree of building height (), and the staggered degree of building range (), to study the systematic influence of building spacing, height and layout on wind and turbulent characteristics. The following results have been achieved: (1) As decrease from 0.25 to 0.18, the mean flow patterns transfer from "skimming" flow to "wake interference" flow, and as decrease from 0.06 to 0.04, the mean flow patterns transfer from "wake interference" flow to "isolated roughness" flow. With increasing , wind velocity within arrays increases, and the vortexes in front of low buildings would break, even disappear, whereas the vortexes in front of tall buildings would strengthen and expand. Tall buildings have greater disturbance on wind than low buildings do. (2) All the wind velocity profiles and the upstream profile converge at the height of 2.5H approximately. The decay of wind velocity within the building canopy was in positive correlation with and . If the height of building arrays is variable, Macdonald`s wind velocity model should be modified through introducing , because wind velocity decreases at the upper layers of the canopy and increases at the lower layers of the canopy. (3) The maximum of turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) always locates at 1.2 times as high as the buildings. TKE within the canopy decreases with increasing and but the maximum of TKE are very close though varies. (4) Wind velocity profile follows the logarithmic law approximately above the building canopy. The Zero-plane displacement heighten with increasing , whereas the maximum of and Roughness length occurs when is about 0.14. and heighten linearly with and , If is large enough, may become higher than the average height of buildings.

Inverse active wind load inputs estimation of the multilayer shearing stress structure

Abstract: This research investigates the adaptive input estimation method applied to the multilayer shearing stress structure. This method is to estimate the values of wind load inputs by analyzing the active reaction of the system. The Kalman filter without the input term and the adaptive weighted recursive least square estimator are two main portions of this method. The innovation vector can be produced by the Kalman filter, and be applied to the adaptive weighted recursive least square estimator to estimate the wind load input over time. This combined method can effectively estimate the wind loads to the structure system to enhance the reliability of the system active performance analysis. The forms of the simulated inputs (loads) in this paper include the periodic sinusoidal wave, the decaying exponent, the random combination of the sinusoidal wave and the decaying exponent, etc. The active reaction computed plus the simulation error is regard as the simulated measurement and is applied to the input estimation algorithm to implement the numerical simulation of the inverse input estimation process. The availability and the precision of the input estimation method proposed in this research can be verified by comparing the actual value and the one obtained by numerical simulation.

Interference effects in a group of tall buildings closely arranged in an L- or T-shaped pattern

Abstract: Interference effects in five square tall buildings arranged in an L- or T-shaped pattern are investigated in the wind tunnel. Mean and fluctuating shear forces, overturning moments and torsional moment are measured on each building with a force balance mounted at its base. Results are obtained at two values of clear separation between adjacent buildings, at half and a quarter building breadth. It is found that strong interference effect exists on all member buildings, resulting in significant modifications of wind loads as compared with the isolated single building case. Sheltering effect is observed on wind loads acting along the direction of an arm of the "L" or "T" on the inner buildings. However, increase in these wind loads from the isolated single building case is found on the most upwind edge building in the arm when wind blows at a slight oblique angle to the arm. The corner formed by two arms of buildings results in some wind catchment effect leading to increased wind pressure on windward building faces. Interesting interference phenomena such as negative drag force are reported. Interference effects on wind load fluctuations, load spectra and dynamic building responses are also studied and discussed.

Wind-induced tall building response: a time-domain approach

Abstract: Estimates of wind-induced wind effects on tall buildings are based largely on 1980s technology. Such estimates can vary significantly depending upon the wind engineering laboratory producing them. We describe an efficient database-assisted design (DAD) procedure allowing the realistic estimation of wind-induced internal forces with any mean recurrence interval in any individual member. The procedure makes use of (a) time series of directional aerodynamic pressures recorded simultaneously at typically hundreds of ports on the building surface, (b) directional wind climatological data, (c) micrometeorological modeling of ratios between wind speeds in open exposure and mean wind speeds at the top of the building, (d) a physically and probabilistically realistic aerodynamic/climatological interfacing model, and (e) modern computational resources for calculating internal forces and demand-to-capacity ratios for each member being designed. The procedure is applicable to tall buildings not susceptible to aeroelastic effects, and with sufficiently large dimensions to allow placement of the requisite pressure measurement tubes. The paper then addresses the issue of accounting explicitly for uncertainties in the factors that determine wind effects. Unlike for routine structures, for which simplifications inherent in standard provisions are acceptable, for tall buildings these uncertainties need to be considered with care, since over-simplified reliability estimates could defeat the purpose of ad-hoc wind tunnel tests.

Effect of building volume and opening sizeon fluctuating internal pressures

Abstract: This paper considers internal pressure fluctuations for a range of building volumes and dominant wall opening areas. The study recognizes that the air flow in and out of the dominant opening in the envelope generates Helmholtz resonance, which can amplify the internal pressure fluctuations compared to the external pressure, at the opening. Numerical methods were used to estimate fluctuating standard deviation and peak (i.e. design) internal pressures from full-scale measured external pressures. The ratios of standard deviation and peak internal pressures to the external pressures at a dominant windward wall opening of area, AW are presented in terms of the non-dimensional opening size to volume parameter, , where as is the speed of sound, is the mean wind speed at the top of the building and VIe is the effective internal volume. The standard deviation of internal pressure exceeds the external pressures at the opening, for greater than about 0.75, showing increasing amplification with increasing . The peak internal pressure can be expected to exceed the peak external pressure at the opening by 10% to 50%, for greater than about 5. A dominant leeward wall opening also produces similar fluctuating internal pressure characteristics.

Failure analysis of a transmission tower during a microburst

Abstract: This paper focuses on assessing the failure of one of the transmission towers that collapsed in Winnipeg, Canada, as a result of a microburst event. The study is conducted using a fluid-structure numerical model that was developed in-house. A major challenge in microburst-related problems is that the forces acting on a structure vary with the microburst parameters including the descending jet velocity, the diameter of the event and the relative location between the structure and the jet. The numerical model, which combines wind field data for microbursts together with a non-linear finite element formulation, is capable of predicting the progressive failure of a tower that initiates after one of its member reaches its capacity. The model is employed first to determine the microburst parameters that are likely to initiate failure of a number of critical members of the tower. Progressive failure analysis of the tower is then conducted by applying the loads associated with those critical configurations. The analysis predicts a collapse of the conductors cross-arm under a microburst reference velocity that is almost equal to the corresponding value for normal wind load that was used in the design of the structure. A similarity between the predicted modes of failure and the post event field observations was shown.

Modeling wind ribs effects for numerical simulation external pressure load on a cooling tower of KAZERUN power plant-IRAN

Abstract: In this paper, computer simulation of wind flow around a single cooling tower with louver support at the base in the KAZERUN power station in south part of IRAN is presented as a case study. ANSYS FLOTRAN, an unstructured finite element incompressible flow solver, is used for numerical investigation of wind induced pressure load on a single cooling tower. Since the effects of the wind ribs on external surface of the cooling tower shell which plays important role in formation of turbulent flow field, an innovative relation is introduced for modeling the effects of wind ribs on computation of wind pressure on cooling tower\'s shell. The introduced relation which follows the concept of equivalent sand roughness for the wall function is used in conjunction with two equations ?-? turbulent model. In this work, the effects of variation in the height/spacing ratio of external wind ribs are numerically investigated. Conclusions are made by comparison between computed pressure loads on external surface of cooling tower and the VGB (German guideline for cooling tower design) suggestions.

Modeling of wind and temperature effects on modal frequencies and analysis of relative strength of effect

Abstract: Wind and temperature have been shown to be the critical sources causing changes in the modal properties of large-scale bridges. While the individual effects of wind and temperature on modal variability have been widely studied, the investigation about the effects of multiple environmental factors on structural modal properties was scarcely reported. This paper addresses the modeling of the simultaneous effects of wind and temperature on the modal frequencies of an instrumented cable-stayed bridge. Making use of the long-term monitoring data from anemometers, temperature sensors and accelerometers, a neural network model is formulated to correlate the modal frequency of each vibration mode with wind speed and temperature simultaneously. Research efforts have been made on enhancing the prediction capability of the neural network model through optimal selection of the number of hidden nodes and an analysis of relative strength of effect (RSE) for input reconstruction. The generalization performance of the formulated model is verified with a set of new testing data that have not been used in formulating the model. It is shown that using the significant components of wind speeds and temperatures rather than the whole measurement components as input to neural network can enhance the prediction capability. For the fundamental mode of the bridge investigated, wind and temperature together apply an overall negative action on the modal frequency, and the change in wind condition contributes less to the modal variability than the change in temperature.

Influence of spacing between buildings on wind characteristics above rural and suburban areas

Abstract: A wind tunnel study has been carried out to determine the influence of spacing between buildings on wind characteristics above rural and suburban type of terrain. Experiments were performed for two types of buildings, three-floor family houses and five-floor apartment buildings. The atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) models were generated by means of the Counihan method using a castellated barrier wall, vortex generators and a fetch of roughness elements. A hot wire anemometry system was applied for measurement of mean velocity and velocity fluctuations. The mean velocity profiles are in good agreement with the power law for exponent values from α = 0.15 to α = 0.24, which is acceptable for the representation of the rural and suburban ABL, respectively. Effects of the spacing density among buildings on wind characteristics range from the ground up to 0.6δ . As the spacing becomes smaller, the mean flow is slowed down, whilst, simultaneously, the turbulence intensity and absolute values of the Reynolds stress increase due to the increased friction between the surface and the air flow. This results in a higher ventilation efficiency as the increased retardation of horizontal flow simultaneously accompanies an intensified vertical transfer of momentum.

Investigation of 3-D dynamic wind loads on lattice towers

Abstract: In this paper, the along-wind, across-wind as well as torsional dynamic wind loads on three kinds of lattice tower models are investigated using the base balance technique in a boundary layer wind tunnel. The models were specially designed, and their fundamental frequencies in the directions of the three principal axes are still in the frequency range of the spectra of wind loads on lattice towers. In order to clear contaminations to the spectra of wind loads induced by model resonance, the generalized force spectra of the first mode of the models in along-wind, across-wind and torsional directions were derived based on measured base moments of the models. The RMS generalized force coefficients are also obtained by removing the contributions of model resonance. Finally, the characteristics of the 3-D dynamic wind loads, especially those of the across-wind dynamic loads, on the three kinds of lattice towers are presented and discussed.

The effect of Reynolds numbers on the steady state aerodynamic force coefficients of the Stonecutters Bridge deck section

Abstract: In a wind tunnel experiment employing a reduced scale model, Reynolds number (Re) can hardly be respected. Its effects on the aerodynamics of closed-box bridge decks have been the subject of research in recent years. Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong is a cable-stayed bridge having an unprecedented central span of 1018m. The issue of Re sensitivity was raised early in the design phase of the deck of Stonecutters Bridge. The objective of this study is to summarise the results of various wind tunnel experiments in order to demonstrate the effect of Re on the steady state aerodynamic force coefficients. The results may provide an insight on the choice of scale for section model experiments in bridge design projects. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of forces on bridge deck section was also carried out to see how CFD results are compared with experimental results.

Wind-induced lateral-torsional coupled responses of tall buildings

Abstract: Based on the empirical formulas for power spectra of generalized modal forces and local fluctuating wind forces in across-wind and torsional directions, the wind-induced lateral-torsional coupled response analysis of a representative rectangular tall building was conducted by setting various parameters such as eccentricities in centers of mass and/or rigidity and considering different torsional to lateral stiffness ratios. The eccentricity effects on the lateral-torsional coupled responses of the tall building were studied comprehensively by structural dynamic analysis. Extensive computational results indicated that the torsional responses at the geometric center of the building may be significantly affected by the eccentricities in the centers of mass and/or rigidity. Covariance responses were found to be in the same order of magnitude as the along-wind or across-wind responses in many eccentricity cases, suggesting that the lateral-torsional coupled effects on the overall wind-induced responses can not be neglected for such situations. The calculated results also demonstrated that the torsional motion contributed significantly to the total responses of rectangular tall buildings with mass and/or rigidity eccentricities. It was shown through this study that the framework presented in this paper provides a useful tool to evaluate the wind-induced lateral-torsional coupled responses of rectangular buildings, which will enable structural engineers in the preliminary design stages to assess the serviceability of tall buildings, potential structural vibration problems and the need for a detailed wind tunnel test.

A comparative study of along and cross-wind responses of a tall chimney with and without flexibility of soil

Abstract: The paper is concerned with a comparative study of both the along and cross-wind responses of a tall industrial chimney with and without flexibility of soil. The along-wind response has been estimated by means of approaches presented in three Standards: the Polish, the ISO and the Eurocode and by random vibration approach which is outlined below. The cross-wind response has been estimated by means of the three models developed by Vickery and Basu, Ruscheweyh and Flaga and methods presented in Standards: the Polish, the ISO and the Eurocode (Approach 1 and 2). Computer programmes were developed to obtain estimates of responses of a six-flue, 250 m-tall chimney. The analytical results computed according to the methods presented in different standards and random vibration approaches have been compared. Some unexpected conclusions have been observed.

Galloping analysis of stranded electricity conductors in skew winds

Abstract: When first commissioned, the 1.6 km span 275kV Severn Crossing Conductor experienced large amplitude vibrations in certain wind conditions, but without ice or rain, leading to flashover between the conductor phases. Wind tunnel tests undertaken at the time identified a major factor was the lift generated in the critical Reynolds number range in skew winds. Despite this insight, and although a practical solution was found by wrapping the cable to change the aerodynamic profile, there remained some uncertainty as to the detailed excitation mechanism. Recent work to address the problem of dry inclined cable galloping on cable-stayed bridges has led to a generalised quasi-steady galloping formulation, including effects of the 3D geometry and changes in the static force coefficients in the critical Reynolds number range. This generalised formulation has been applied to the case of the Severn Crossing Conductor, using data of the static drag and lift coefficients on a section of the stranded cable, from the original wind tunnel tests. Time history analysis has then been used to calculate the amplitudes of steady state vibrations for comparison with the full scale observations. Good agreement has been obtained between the analysis and the site observations, giving increased confidence in the applicability of the generalised galloping formulation and providing insight into the mechanism of galloping of yawed and stranded cables. Application to other cable geometries is also discussed.

Aerodynamics of an intercity bus

Abstract: A number of passive aerodynamic drag reduction methods were applied separately and then in different combinations on an intercity bus model, through wind tunnel studies on a 1:20 scale model of a Mercedes Benz Tourismo 15 RHD intercity bus. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling was also conducted in parallel to assist with flow visualisation. The commercial CFD package CFXTM was used. It has been found that dramatic reductions in coefficient of drag (CD) of up to 70% can be achieved on the model using tapered and rounded top and side leading edges, and a truncated rear boat-tail. The curved front section allows the airflow to adhere to the bus surfaces for the full length of the vehicle, while the boat-tails reduce the size of the low pressure region at the base of the bus and more importantly, additional pressure recovery occurs and the base pressures rise, reducing drag. It is found that the CFD results show remarkable agreement with experimental results, both in the magnitude of the force coefficients as well as in their trends. An analysis shows that such a reduction in aerodynamic drag could lead to a significant 28% reduction in fuel consumption for a typical bus on intercity or interstate operation. This could translate to a massive dollar savings as well as significant emissions reductions across a fleet. On road tests are recommended.

Flow structures around a three-dimensional rectangular body with ground effect

Abstract: An experimental investigation of the flow over the rectangular body located in close proximity to a ground board was reported using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The present experiments were conducted in a closed-loop open surface water channel with the Reynolds number, $Re_H

Optimum study on wind-induced vibration control of high-rise buildings with viscous dampers

Abstract: In this paper, optimum methods of wind-induced vibration control of high-rise buildings are mainly studied. Two optimum methods, genetic algorithms (GA) method and Rayleigh damping method, are firstly employed and proposed to perform optimum study on wind-induced vibration control, six target functions are presented in GA method based on spectrum analysis. Structural optimum analysis programs are developed based on Matlab software to calculate wind-induced structural responses. A high-rise steel building with 20-storey is adopted and 22 kinds of control plans are employed to perform comparison analysis to validate the feasibility and validity of the optimum methods considered. The results show that the distributions of damping coefficients along structural height for mass proportional damping (MPD) systems and stiffness proportional damping (SPD) systems are entirely opposite. Damping systems of MPD and GAMPD (genetic algorithms and mass proportional damping) have the best performance of reducing structural wind-induced vibration response and are superior to other damping systems. Standard deviations of structural responses are influenced greatly by different target functions and the influence is increasing slightly when higher modes are considered, as shown fully in section 5. Therefore, the influence of higher modes should be considered when strict requirement of wind-induced vibration comfort is needed for some special structures.

Effect of rain on flutter derivatives of bridge decks

Abstract: Flutter derivatives provide the basis of predicting the critical wind speed in flutter and buffeting analysis of long-span cable-supported bridges. Many studies have been performed on the methods and applications of identification of flutter derivatives of bridge decks under wind action. In fact, strong wind, especially typhoon, is always accompanied by heavy rain. Then, what is the effect of rain on flutter derivatives and flutter critical wind speed of bridges? Unfortunately, there have been no studies on this subject. This paper makes an initial study on this problem. Covariance-driven Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI in short) which is capable of estimating the flutter derivatives of bridge decks from their steady random responses is presented first. An experimental set-up is specially designed and manufactured to produce the conditions of rain and wind. Wind tunnel tests of a quasi-streamlined thin plate model are conducted under conditions of only wind action and simultaneous wind-rain action, respectively. The flutter derivatives are then extracted by the SSI method, and comparisons are made between the flutter derivatives under the two different conditions. The comparison results tentatively indicate that rain has non-trivial effects on flutter derivatives, especially on and , and thus the flutter critical wind speeds of bridges.

Design of aerodynamic stabilizing cables for a cable-stayed bridge during construction

Abstract: A design procedure of stabilizing cable is proposed using buffeting analysis to stabilize the seesaw-like motion of the free cantilevered structure of a cable-stayed bridge during its construction. The bridge examined is a composite cable-stayed bridge having a main span length of 500 m. Based on the buffeting analysis, the stress in bare structure exceeded the allowable limit and a set of stabilizing cable was planned to mitigate the responses. The most efficient positions of the hold-down stabilizing cables were numerically investigated by means of an FE-based buffeting analysis and the required dimensions and pretension of the stabilizing cables were also calculated. The proposed stabilizing measure would be expected to secure the aerodynamic safety of a cantilevered structure under construction with considerable mitigation of buffeting responses.

Spatial flow structure around a smooth circular cylinder in the critical Reynolds number regime under cross-flow condition

Abstract: The spanwise flow structure around a rigid smooth circular cylinder model in cross-flow has been investigated based on the experimental data obtained from a series of wind tunnel tests. Surface pressures were collected at five spanwise locations along the cylinder over a Reynolds number range of 1.14?05 to 5.85?05, which covered sub-critical, single-bubble and two-bubble regimes in the critical range. Separation angles were deduced from curve fitted to the surface pressure data. In addition, spanwise correlations and power spectra analyses were employed to study the spatial structure of flow. Results at different spanwise locations show that the transition into single-bubble and two-bubble regimes could occur at marginally different Reynolds numbers which expresses the presence of overlap regions in between the single-bubble regime and its former and later regimes. This indicates the existence of three-dimensional flow around the circular cylinder in cross-flow, which is also supported by the observed cell-like surface pressure patterns. Relatively strong spanwise correlation of the flow characteristics is observed before each transition within the critical regime, or formation of first and second separation-bubbles. It is also noted that these organized flow structures might lead to greater overall aerodynamic forces on a circular cylinder in cross-flow within the critical Reynolds number regime.

Aerodynamic response of articulated towers: state-of-the-art

Abstract: Wind and wave loadings have a predominant role in the design of offshore structures in general, and articulated tower in particular for a successful service and survival during normal and extreme environmental conditions Such towers are very sensitive to the dynamic effects of wind and wind generated waves The exposed superstructure is subjected to aerodynamic loads while the submerged substructure is subjected to hydrodynamic loads Articulated towers are designed such that their fundamental frequency is well below the wave frequency to avoid dynamic amplification Dynamic interaction of these towers with environmental loads (wind, waves and currents) acts to impart a lesser overall shear and overturning moment due to compliance to such forces This compliancy introduces geometric nonlinearity due to large displacements, which becomes an important consideration in the analysis of articulated towers Prediction of the nonlinear behaviour of these towers in the harsh ocean environment is difficult However, simplified realistic mathematical models are employed to gain an important insight into the problem and to explore the dynamic behaviour In this paper, various modeling approaches and solution methods for articulated towers adopted by past researchers are reviewed Besides, reliability of articulation system, the paper also discussed the design, installation and performance of articulated towers around the world oceans

Effects of partially earth-anchored cable system on dynamic wind response of cable-stayed bridges

Abstract: In this study, a partially earth-anchored cable system is studied in order to reduce the dynamic wind response of cable-stayed bridges. The employment of earth-anchored cables changes the dynamic characteristics of cable-stayed bridges under wind loads. In order to estimate the changes in the member forces, the spectral analysis for wind buffeting loads are performed and the peak responses are evaluated using 3-D finite element models of the three-span cable-stayed bridges with the partially earth-anchored cable system and with the self-anchored cable system, respectively. Comparing the results for the two different models, it is found that the earth-anchored cables affect longitudinal and vertical modes of the bridge. The changes of the natural frequencies for the longitudinal modes remarkably decrease the peak bending moment in the pylon and the movements at the expansion joints. The small changes of the natural frequencies for the vertical modes slightly increase bending moments and deflections in the girder. The original effects of the partially earth-anchored cable system are also shown under wind loads; the decrement of girder axial forces and bearing uplifting forces, and the increment of cable forces in the earth-anchored cables.

Exceedance probability as a tool to evaluate the wind environment of urban areas

Abstract: The present study aims to estimate the wind ventilation performance for pedestrian level domains from the air quality point of view. Three typical models of a dense urban area were considered and numerically simulated in order to examine the effects of the geometry of such models on wind flow characteristics, which in turn affect the air quality, within the pedestrian domain of a street canyon located within this area. The calculated flow fields were employed to estimate the exceedance probabilities within the study domain using a new approach: air exchange rate within the domain. The study has been applied to nine cities in Japan: Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Niigata, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Sendai, Yokohama, and Kyoto, based on their mean wind velocity data. The results demonstrated that the exceedance probability analysis of the pedestrian wind environment could be a valuable tool during the design stage of inhabited areas for the evaluation of pollutant-removal efficiency by the applied wind. Also, the calculated probabilities demonstrated substantial dependence on both the geometry of building arrays and the wind conditions of the nine cities.

Evaluation of base shield plates effectiveness in reducing the drag of a rough circular cylinder in a cross flow

Abstract: An experimental investigation has been conducted to determine the effectiveness of base shield plates in reducing the drag of a rough circular cylinder in a cross flow at Reynolds numbers in the range 3?104??Re??10.5?104. Three model configurations were investigated and compared: a plane cylinder (PC), a cylinder with a splitter plate (MC1) and a cylinder fitted with base shield plates (MC2). Each configuration was studied in the sub and supercritical flow regimes. The chord of the plates, L, ranged from 0.22 to 1.50D and the cavity width, G, between the plates was in the range from 0 to 0.93D. It is recognized that base shield plates can be employed more effectively than splitter plates to reduce the aerodynamic drag of circular cylinders in both the sub- and supercritical flow regimes. For subcritical flow regime, one can get 53% and 24% drag reductions for the MC2 and MC1 models with L/D?=?1.0, respectively, compared with the PC model. For supercritical flow regime however, the corresponding drag reductions are 38% and 7%. Keywords:

Wind velocity simulation of spatial three-dimensionalfields based on autoregressive model

Abstract: This paper adopts autoregressive (AR) model to simulate the wind velocity of spatial three-dimensional fields in accordance with the time and space dependent characteristics of the 3-D fields. Based on the built MATLAB programming, this paper discusses in detail the issues of the AR model deduced by matrix form in the simulation and proposes the corresponding solving methods: the over-relaxation iteration to solve the large sparse matrix equations produced by large number of degrees of freedom of structures; the improved Gauss formula to calculate the numerical integral equations which integral functions contain oscillating functions; the mixed congruence and central limit theorem of Lindberg-Levy to generate random numbers. This paper also develops a method of ascertaining the rank of the AR model. The numerical examples show that all those methods are stable and reliable, which can be used to simulate the wind velocity of all large span structures in civil engineering.