Monitoring of dynamic behaviour of super-tall buildings during typhoons

This paper presents the field measurement results of the wind effects on two super-tall buildings (having height over 400 m) in Hong Kong during the passage of Typhoon Nesat in 2011. The field data such as wind speed, wind direction, structural acceleration and displacement responses were simultaneously recorded during the typhoon. Detailed analysis of the field data was conducted to investigate the wind field over an urban area, structural dynamic properties and wind-induced responses of the super-tall buildings. The typhoon-generated wind characteristics including turbulence intensity, gust factor and power spectral density of fluctuating wind speed were presented and discussed. The acceleration responses were analysed by Fourier transform to represent an averaged perspective over the records. Then, the wavelet transform was used to present time-frequency energy distributions of the structural vibrations. Instantaneous spectra were also presented for further discussions of the non-stationary signals. A high-pass Kaiser FIR digital filter was adopted to eliminate the multipath effects on the displacement responses recorded by global positioning system. Then, the resonant and background responses as well as their contributions to the total displacements were identified. Damping ratios of the high-rise structures were evaluated by the random decrement technique, which demonstrated amplitude-dependent characteristics. Finally, the serviceability performance of the super-tall buildings under wind actions with different return periods was estimated.