A Monte Carlo based method for the dynamic “fragility analysis” of tall buildings under turbulent wind loading

This paper presents a numerical algorithm for the simulation of the along-wind dynamic response of tall buildings under turbulent winds, using Monte Carlo (MC) integration methods. The proposed MC numerical procedure was used to compute the power spectral density of the buffeting loads, and to derive the statistics of the dynamic response in the presence of uncertainty in the wind loading. The CAARC prototype building was utilized to validate the proposed algorithm. This paper also presents the computation of the structural fragility curves of the CAARC building under extreme winds; preliminary investigations were conducted to assess the applicability of the proposed algorithm to a performance-based assessment.The results of these studies validated the appropriateness of the developed algorithm through comparison to reference values obtained from the literature for the CAARC building. Furthermore, structural “fragility curves” were utilized for a preliminary performance analysis, based on simulated along-wind response serviceability limit states.