Wind‐induced interference effects between twin tapered skyscrapers

Twin high‐rise buildings, that is, two closely located tall buildings with identical or similar geometrical features, are inevitably under wind‐induced interference effects. Most previous studies employed rectangular or circular prisms as twin tall buildings to investigate the interference effects. Therefore, these findings need further verification and modification for twin high‐rise buildings with more complex exterior geometries. This study uses wind tunnel pressure measurement tests to investigate the interference effects on typical twin super‐tall buildings with a tapered shape and recessed corners. Structural overall overturning moments and surface wind pressures applied on the twin skyscrapers are analyzed and discussed in detail. The interference effects on the twin skyscrapers are further compared with those on paired square prisms with the same height and footprint breadth. The results show that the interference effects on the twin tapered super‐tall buildings differ considerably from those on the square prisms, and the critical building configurations that need cautious treatment in the designs of twin skyscrapers are specified.     

Spectral characteristics and correlation of dynamic wind forces on a super‐tall building

The 88‐storey Jin Mao Building located in Shanghai has a height of 420·5m and is the highest building in mainland China. Dynamic wind force components on the super‐tall building were measured by high‐frequency force balance technique in a boundary layer wind tunnel for the cases of an isolated Jin Mao Building and the existing surrounding condition under suburban and urban boundary layer flow configurations. Spectral characteristics of along‐wind and across‐wind components and, in particular, the cross‐correlation and coherence among various wind loading components are presented and discussed in detail. Furthermore, the effects of upstream terrain conditions and surrounding buildings on the spectra, cross‐correlation and coherence are investigated. The experimental results show that such effects are significant. Finally, an empirical formula for estimation of the across‐wind overturning moment spectrum for the super‐tall building is presented. Comparisons of the spectra determined by the proposed formula and those obtained from wind tunnel tests are made to examine the applicability of the proposed formula. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrated wind‐induced response analysis and design optimization of tall steel buildings using Micro‐GA

This paper presents an integrated procedure for wind‐induced response analysis and design optimization for rectangular steel tall buildings based on the random vibration theory and automatic least cost design optimization technique using Micro‐Genetic Algorithm (GA). The developed approach can predict wind‐induced drift and acceleration responses for serviceability design of a tall building; the technique can also provide an optimal resizing design of the building under wind loads to achieve cost‐efficient design. The empirical formulas of wind force spectra obtained from simultaneous measurements of surface pressures on various rectangular tall building models in wind tunnel tests are verified testified using a published example. Upon the known wind force spectra, the equivalent static wind loads for every storey, such as along‐wind, across‐wind and torsional loads, are then determined and applied for structural analysis including estimation of wind‐induced responses. An improved form of GAs, a Micro‐GA, is adopted to minimize the structural cost/weight of steel buildings subject to top acceleration and lateral drifts constraints with respect to the discrete design variables of steel section sizes. The application and effectiveness of the developed integrated wind‐induced response analysis and design optimization procedure is illustrated through a 30‐storey rectangular steel building example. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The wind‐induced response characteristics of atypical tall buildings

A tall building reacts sensitively to winds because the wind force increases according to the height and shape of the building. Various shapes of tall buildings and their aerodynamic characteristics have been studied extensively. For structural design and occupant comfort, the dynamic displacement of a tall building must be maintained within the criteria for acceptable levels of wind‐induced motion. An aerodynamically appropriate building shape needs to be selected at the design stage of a tall building. In this study, wind‐induced vibration responses were investigated, according to the criteria for maximum acceptable displacement and acceleration. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Field measurements of amplitude‐dependent damping in a 79‐storey tall building and its efects on the structural dynamic responses

This paper describes some results obtained from full‐scale measurements of wind effects on a super‐tall building, Di‐Wang Tower, located in Shenzhen, China. This tall building has 79‐storeys with a height of approximately 324 m. Field measurements including wind speed, wind direction and wind‐induced acceleration responses have been made. The amplitude‐dependent characteristics of damping are obtained by using the random decrement technique from the detailed analysis of the field acceleration measurements. The main objective of this paper is to present detailed investigations into the effects of nonlinear damping on the dynamic responses of the tall building subjected to various types of applied loads based on the measured amplitude‐dependent damping characteristics. The predicted dynamic responses of the building obtained by using the measured damping characteristics were compared with those computed by using constant damping parameters assumed by the structural designers. It is concluded from the investigations that knowledge of actual damping characteristics are very important in the accurate prediction of the dynamic responses of a tall building when the major harmonic components of the applied loads overlap with the lowest natural frequencies of the building. The design damping level for tall building structures currently used by structural engineering practitioners appears to be high and not conservative. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification of Wind Loads and Estimation of Structural Responses of Super‐Tall Buildings by an Inverse Method

This article presents a Kalman‐filter‐based estimation algorithm for identification of wind loads on a super‐tall building using limited structural responses. In practice, acceleration responses are most convenient to be measured among wind‐induced dynamic responses of structures. The proposed inverse method allows estimating the unknown wind loads and structural responses of a super‐tall building using limited acceleration measurements. Taipei 101 Tower is a super‐tall building with 101 stories and a height of 508 m. Field measurements and numerical simulations of the wind effects on Taipei 101 Tower are conducted. The wind loads acting on the super‐tall building are estimated based on the wind‐induced responses determined from the numerical simulations and the refined finite‐element model of the structure, which are in good agreement with the exact results. The stability performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated. The influence of noise levels in the measurements and covariance matrix of noise on the identification accuracy are investigated and discussed based on the L‐curve method. Finally, the wind loads and structural responses are reconstructed based on the field‐measured accelerations during Typhoon Matsa. The accuracy of the identified results is verified by comparing the reconstructed acceleration responses with the field measurements. The results of this study show that the proposed inverse approach can provide accurate predictions of the wind loads and wind‐induced responses of super‐tall buildings based on limited measured responses.     

A study on vortex‐induced vibration of supertall buildings in acrosswind

Modern tall buildings using innovative structural systems and high‐strength materials tend to be slender and lightly damped. Hence, they are vulnerable to the dynamic action of wind. Crosswind excitation on tall buildings can result in aeroelastic problems. Vortex‐induced vibration (VIV) is the prime problem in self‐excited vibration of the flexible structures, and it should be especially observed in order to avoid the ultimate limit state in the design stage. In order to predict the vortex‐induced response of a supertall building in China with the single‐degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) mathematical model, wind tunnel tests were carried out with an improved aeroelastic model according to the similitude. The measured top acceleration of the structure showed that VIV was quite significant at some wind speeds and should be considered in the design. Based on the experimental data, the aerodynamic parameters were determined and the characteristics of VIV were investigated in some details. The time history of acceleration at the lock‐in wind speed was then obtained using the Runge–Kutta method with the SDOF model. The numerical results are in accordance with the measurements. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three‐dimensional coupled wind‐induced vibration calculation method for super high‐rise buildings based on high‐frequency force balance technology

High‐frequency force balance test is a major technical means to evaluate the wind effect of super high‐rise buildings. Most super high‐rise buildings have the characteristic that the first two‐order modal frequencies are close, and thus, considerable modal coupling effects (MCEs) may occur under wind load. For a balance model system (BMS), MCEs increase the difficulty of correcting aerodynamic distortion signals. For the wind‐induced vibration analysis of a structural system (PSS), the calculation results of the wind‐induced response and the equivalent static wind load (ESWL) may be significantly affected without considering MCE. Based on the above‐mentioned signal distortion of BMS and the modal coupling problem of PSS, this study proposes a wind‐induced vibration calculation method for the two coupled systems (BMS and PSS). The method uses the second‐order blind identification technique based on complex modal theory and the Bayesian spectral density method considering full aerodynamic characteristics to achieve effective correction of the distortion signal in BMS. In addition, it deduces the calculation method of the wind‐induced response and ESWL considering the three‐dimensional coupled vibration of a super high‐rise building. The wind effect calculation results of a 528‐m super high‐rise building confirm the necessity and effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Dynamic performance evaluation of Shanghai Tower under winds based on full‐scale data

Shanghai Tower is the tallest building in China with a height of 632 m. This study aims to investigate the wind characteristics and its impact on Shanghai Tower so as to provide useful information for the wind‐resistant design of 600 m+ super‐tall buildings. By analyzing the data of wind speed during the occurrence of DeHong in June 2017, the relationship between turbulence intensity and mean wind speed is verified, and the correlation between gust factor and turbulence intensity is confirmed. Apart from that, it is also found that the von Karman spectrum fits well with the measured fluctuating wind speed spectrum. In addition, the 83rd and 117th acceleration data are analyzed to obtain the natural frequency by peak‐picking, frequency domain decomposition, stochastic subspace identification, and fast Bayesian fast Fourier transform methods. The amplitude‐dependence dynamic parameters of Shanghai Tower on the basis of the field measurements are studied as well. Finally, the wind‐induced vibration is investigated based on the acceleration data and wind speed data, which verifies that the responses along two main axes having a similar amplitude under wind effects. The occurrence of DeHong demonstrates that a gale equivalent to a typhoon may occur in urban areas without any urban warning.     

A combined tuned damper and an optimal design method for wind‐induced vibration control for super tall buildings

The wind‐induced vibrations of super tall buildings become excessive due to strong wind loads, super building height and high flexibility. Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) and tuned liquid column dampers (TLCDs) have been widely used to control vibrations for actual super tall buildings for decades. To fully use both the economic advantage of the TLCD system and the high efficiency of the TMD system, an innovative supplemental damping system including both TLCD and TMD and called combined tuned damper (CTD), which can substantially decrease the cost of the damper, was proposed to control the wind‐induced vibrations of tall buildings. The governing equations are generated for the motion of both the primary structure and the CTD and solved to anticipate the dynamic response of the CTD‐structure system. Moreover, an optimal design method of human comfort performance is proposed, in which the life cycle cost of the damper‐structure system is considered as the quantitative index of the performance. The life cycle cost includes the initial cost, the maintenance cost and the failure cost. The failure cost can be calculated using the vibration‐sensation rate model, which is based on the Japanese code AIJES‐V001‐2004. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wind‐induced torsion vibration of the super high‐rise building of Shenzhen Energy Center

The synchronous multipoint scanning system technique in wind tunnel tests and random vibration theory method were used to analyze the wind‐induced torsion vibration of some irregularly shaped super high‐rise buildings in downtowns. The torsion vibration modes and the spectra of torsion wind load were studied, and the proportions of mean wind torsion, inertia torsion and the mass eccentricity torsion caused by horizontal inertia forces are discussed. The following conclusions can be drawn. First, the third and fourth modes have torsion vibration shapes, and their frequencies are in the high‐energy area of the spectra of the torsion wind load; the third and fourth modes are included in the resonant component of the spectra of the top torsion angle of the building, and the third mode is dominant. Second, the torsion stiffness is weak in the high stories of the building, so the inertia torsion is dominant, whereas the torsion stiffness is strong in the low stories; the mean wind torsion is dominant. The proportion of the mass eccentricity torsion moment caused by horizontal inertia forces is small. Finally, the wind‐induced torsion moment at a 90° wind angle is the largest, whereas the torsion eccentricity is 46% of the radius of gyration and is much greater than the mass eccentricity; thus, the wind‐induced torsion should be considered. The wind‐induced torsion vibration of the building is sensitive to wind directions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Study on occupant comfort evaluation mode of tall buildings in wind excitation based on fuzzy probability method

Occupant comfort mode in wind‐induced vibration was proposed and studied based on fuzzy probability method (FPM). First, the predictions of the comfort mode were compared with the studies of other researchers to verify the reliability of the method proposed in this paper. Second, vibration comfort of 4 types of buildings was investigated and assessed respectively with the proposed mode. Third, parameters of influencing the occupant comfort, such as coefficient of variation and membership function (MF), were discussed, and optimal results were found. Finally, application of the comfort mode was investigated with a true super tall building. This study shows that the FPM is a feasible and reliable way of establishing the occupant comfort mode, and good predictions can be obtained, especially for FPM with MF1 and MF2. The quantitative story and total comfort ratios can be evaluated effectively for tall buildings in wind excitation. The proposed occupant comfort mode based on FPM provides a new and reliable way of investigating the comfort ratio of tall buildings quantifying vibration comfort and guiding structural comfort design.     

Wind‐induced inter‐story drift analysis and equivalent static wind load for multiple targets of tall buildings

In super high‐rise buildings with varying story heights, the wind‐induced inter‐story drifts might violate the specified limit. However, these effects have seldom been concerned in wind‐induced response analysis. The theory and application of equivalent static wind load (ESWL) for wind‐induced inter‐story drifts of super high‐rise buildings were studied in this paper. A spectral decomposition method suitable for multi‐point excitation problems was firstly proposed. The formula of ESWL targeting for largest inter‐story drift was derived. For more reasonable structural design, the ESWL for multiple targets including displacement atop of building and inter‐story drifts at all story levels is put forward, in which the dominant modal inertial forces are adopted as the based load vectors. The presented methods were finally verified by its application for the wind‐induced response analysis for a tallest super tall building in Guangzhou. The researched results showed that the proposed spectral decomposition method not only has the same precision as the complete quadratic combination method but also possesses higher computation efficiency. The ESWL for multiple targets produces the same static responses for all the specified wind‐induced response, so it is much more rational for wind‐resistant structural design. Meanwhile, it is more reasonable to select the wind‐induced responses in the same direction simultaneously as the targeted values for obtaining the required ESWLs; however, the ESWL targeting for the wind‐induced responses in all degrees of freedom would generate more queer and unrealistic ESWLs distribution. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mode shape linearization and correction in coupled dynamic analysis of wind‐excited tall buildings

The three‐dimensional mode shapes found in modern tall buildings complicate the use of the high‐frequency base balance (HFBB) technique in wind tunnel testing for predicting their wind‐induced loads and effects. The linearized‐mode‐shape (LMS) method was recently proposed to address some of the complications in the calculation of the generalized wind forces, which serve as the input to modal analysis for predicting wind‐induced dynamic responses of tall buildings. An improved LMS method, called the advanced linearized‐mode‐shape (ALMS) method, is developed in this paper by introducing torsional mode shape corrections to account for the partial correlation of torques over building height. The ALMS method has been incorporated into the accurate complete quadratic combination method in the coupled dynamic analysis to form a comprehensive procedure for the determination of equivalent static wind loads (ESWLs) for structural design of complex tall buildings. The improved accuracy in the prediction of generalized forces by the ALMS method has been validated by a 60‐storey benchmark building with multiple‐point simultaneous pressure measurements. A practical 40‐storey residential building with significant swaying and torsional effects is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed wind load and response analysis procedure based on the HFBB data. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shaking table test on seismic resonant behavior of core‐outrigger structure

In order to investigate disastrous seismic resonant effect of resonant ground motions on tall building structures, a 1/40 scaled planar test model of a 56‐story core‐outrigger structure was tested on shaking table considering two types of ground motions, that is, non‐resonant and resonant ground motions. The non‐resonant ground motions were chosen from far‐field natural earthquake records, whereas the resonant ground motions were generated through scaling Fourier spectra of the non‐resonant ones in a target period region covering one of the first two natural periods of the test model. The test results showed that (a) with the same small peak ground acceleration of 0.07 g, the test model exhibited significant hysteretic behavior, residual displacement, and even overturning collapse under the resonant ground motions but behaved elastically under the non‐resonant ones; (b) the first‐period resonant ground motion caused extremely large displacements on the upper floors and large moments on the lower stories, whereas the second‐period resonant ground motion resulted in extremely large accelerations on the upper and middle floors; (c) the first‐period resonant ground motion was more probable to trigger overturning collapse of the core‐outrigger system after some exterior columns had reached their axial compression strength, even for those columns on the middle stories.     

Wind effects on Shenzhen Zhuoyue Century Center: Field measurement and wind tunnel test

Field measurements of wind effects on Zhuoyue Century Center were conducted during 4 typhoon events in the recent 5 years, during which the field data such as wind speeds, wind directions, and acceleration responses were simultaneously and continuously measured. On the basis of field measured data, dynamic characteristics of this super‐tall building were determined by recently developed fast Bayesian fast Fourier transform method. Using full‐scale measurement data under 4 typhoons and breezy conditions for modal identification, one could observe a relatively wide scatter in the identified modal damping ratios, and the damping ratios do not appear to have an obvious nonlinear relationship with vibration amplitude. The average damping ratios of the first 2 modes were 0.70% and 0.73%, respectively. Serviceability of the super‐tall building under wind action was analyzed on the basis of the field measured response. Finally, the measured wind‐induced acceleration responses were further compared with those obtained from the wind tunnel test to evaluate the accuracy of the model test results.     

An inter‐story drift‐based parameter analysis of the optimal location of outriggers in tall buildings

Outriggers are usually added in structural systems of tall buildings to collaborate central shear walls with peripheral columns. With outriggers, the structural overturning moment can be balanced, and the inter‐story drift can be controlled under horizontal loads. Therefore, the optimal location of outriggers plays a very important role in controlling the behavior of the whole building. Existing research has focused on the optimal position of outriggers on the base of the structural roof deflection. In the engineering practice, however, inter‐story drift is the most important target to control the design of tall building structures. This paper investigates the theoretical method of inter‐story drift‐based optimal location of outriggers. A Matlab program is written to perform the parameter analysis of optimal location of outriggers. Take a 240‐m tall building for a target building, the optimal location of one to three sets of outriggers under wind and earthquakes is obtained and can be utilized for the structural preliminary design of tall buildings. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Aerodynamic interference effects of a proposed taller high‐rise building on wind pressures on existing tall buildings

When a large super high‐rise building taller than the surrounding tall buildings is built in a dense urban area, the aerodynamic interference effects of the surrounding buildings on the proposed building attract much attention, while the interference effects of the taller high‐rise building on the nearby existing buildings are often ignored. Based on a series of wind tunnel tests, the interference effects of a proposed taller high‐rise building, an adjacent equal‐height partner building, and relatively short background buildings on the target building's local wind pressures are analysed in this paper. Two‐dimensional numerical simulation are carried out to further understand the interference mechanism in some cases. The test results show that the influence of a nearby proposed taller high‐rise building may lead to wind‐induced damage on the interfered shorter buildings' envelopes. The envelope structures of other surrounding buildings facing the side of the proposed building need to be given more attention.     

On modelling of typhoon‐induced non‐stationary wind speed for tall buildings

Typhoon‐induced wind around tall buildings may not be stationary because it is a large body of rotating air. A new approach is thus proposed in this paper for characterizing typhoon‐induced wind speed. Typhoon‐induced non‐stationary wind speed is modelled as a deterministic time‐varying mean wind speed component plus a zero mean stationary fluctuating wind speed component. The time‐varying mean wind speed is naturally extracted from the measured wind speed time history using empirical mode decomposition (EMD). Wind characteristics described in the traditional approach based on a stationary wind model are redefined and extended in the non‐stationary wind model. The new approach is then applied to wind data measured at the Di Wang building during Typhoon York. The results show that most of recorded wind samples are non‐stationary but they can be decomposed into a time‐varying mean wind speed component plus a well‐behaved zero mean fluctuating wind speed component admitted as a stationary random process with Gaussian distribution. Other wind characteristics such as probability distribution of fluctuating wind speed, turbulence intensity, gust factor, and wind spectrum obtained by the new approach seem to be more realistic than those gained by the traditional approach. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reduced order control for wind‐induced vibrations of tall buildings

The design of a structural control system for a tall building may not be easy owing to the large number of degrees of freedom involved. Obviously, it is much easier to design a structural control system for the reduced‐order system than for the full‐order system. Model reduction is thus useful when control systems are implemented in civil engineering structures. A reduced‐order modelling technology for vibration control of wind‐excited tall buildings is presented and its performance is studied. The important issues associated with wind‐induced vibrations, model condensations and reduced‐order control are addressed. Finally, a numerical example, a tall building with an active tuned mass damper or a passive tuned mass damper, is given to show the efficiency of the reduced‐order control technique. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.