Database-Assisted Design and Structural Reliability for Building Codes

Published

May 1, 2003

Author(s)

S M. Diniz, Emil Simiu

Abstract

We present a database-assisted design (DAD)-compatible probabilistic procedure for estimating (a)wind effects for any return period and (b) wind load factors. Unlike earlier reliability estimates, we account for the randomness of peak effects and for knowledge uncertainties. We found that, in contrast to load factor estimates based on the Extreme Value Type I distribution of the wind speeds, estimates based on the Type III distribution of the largest values yield load factor estimates consistent with accepted standard values. The ratio between 3-s and 1-hr wind speeds, which comes into play when converting meteorological data to wind tunnel reference wind speeds, can affect the estimates significantly. An increase of the extreme wind data set from, say, 30 years to 50 years, has a marginal effect on the estimates. Research on the effect of terrain roughness uncertainties for buildings in built-up terrain may require an expansion of the aerodynamic databases currently available. consideration of uncertainties in isolation, as commonly performed by some wind tunnel operators, especially for peak effects estimation, can be misleading; for structural applications, uncertainties need to be considered collectively.

Proceedings Title

2003 Sturctures Congress and Exposition | | Structural Reliability and Database Assisted Design for Wind Effects |

Conference Dates

May 1, 2003

Conference Location

Undefined

Conference Title

Structures Congress and Exposition

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

building technology, database-assisted design, low-rise buildings, structural reliability, wind loads

Citation

Diniz, S. and Simiu, E. (2003), Database-Assisted Design and Structural Reliability for Building Codes, 2003 Sturctures Congress and Exposition | | Structural Reliability and Database Assisted Design for Wind Effects |, Undefined (Accessed April 24, 2026)

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