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WIND LOAD FACTORS FOR USE IN THE WIND TUNNEL PROCEDURE

Published

Author(s)

Emil Simiu, Adam L. Pintar, Dat Duthinh, DongHun Yeo

Abstract

A 2005 Skidmore Owings and Merrill report notes that the ASCE 7 Standard is incomplete insofar as it provides no guidance on wind load factors appropriate for use with the Standard’s wind tunnel procedure. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to such guidance. Based on a classical definition of wind load factors as functions of uncertainties in the micrometeorological, wind climatological, aerodynamics and structural dynamics elements that determine wind loads, the paper presents a simple, straightforward approach that allows practitioners to use appropriate wind load factors applicable when those uncertainties are either the same as or different from those assumed in the development of the ASCE 7 Standard. Illustrations of the approach are presented for a variety of cases of practical interest. In estimating design wind loads, the various uncertainties should not be accounted for in isolation, for example by specifying peak pressure coefficients with percentage points higher than those corresponding to their expected values. Rather, to achieve risk-consistent designs, the uncertainties should be accounted for collectively,
Citation
Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems

Keywords

Aerodynamics, load factors, micrometeorology, safety, structural reliability, uncertainties, wind climatology, wind engineering, climatology, wind engineering.

Citation

Simiu, E. , Pintar, A. , Duthinh, D. and Yeo, D. (2017), WIND LOAD FACTORS FOR USE IN THE WIND TUNNEL PROCEDURE, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=919528 (Accessed December 6, 2024)

Issues

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Created November 30, 2017, Updated August 18, 2020