---

The nature of wind storms and wind-induced damage

• Wind is air movement relative to the earth

• Primary causes for wind are differential solar heating and rotation of the
earth

• Prevailing wind direction in the tropics and near poles is easterly and in
temperate latitudes it is westerly

• Local winds may be thunder storms, down slope winds, sea breezes
etc.

• Severe winds called cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons also occurs.

1
 ---

• Pressure gradient gives force per unit mass

density of air
• Coriolis force

At equator, coriolis force is zero

A1 A So, no cyclones.
U Similarly, at latitude λ.

Where f = coriolis parameter

2
 ----------

• Geostrophic wind (synoptic)

• Steady flow under equal and opposite pressure gradient and coriolis
force.
flow parallel to isobar

co flow
rio
lis
LP HP
Pressure
P+∆P Gradient force
cyclone anticyclone P
Northern hemisphere

3
 ---
Types of wind storms:
• Gales from large depressions:
in mid latitudes (40 to 60 degrees)
over 1000 Km wide
• Tropical cyclones:
several hundred Km wide 12 km
• Thunder storms:
warm moist air convected upwards cools rapidly
to produce heavy rain or hails
• Tornadoes:
vertical vortex in thunder clouds
only about 100m wide but can travel up to 50km
• Down bursts:
2 to 3 km wide and 10-15 km long
• Down slope winds:
caused by thermal amplification of Geostropic wind
4
 ---

Design wind speeds and structural safety

Return period = 1 / probability of exceedance

50 year return period has a probability of exceedance of 0.02in one year

Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Region of frictional influence with ground surface

Varies from 100m for thunderstorms to 1 km for gales

5
 ---

Mean wind speed profiles:

• Variation of mean wind speed up to 200m from ground.
• Logarithmic law of prandtl accurate for strong wind

mean wind speed at Z,

• Limitations –
1) applicable only for ideal terrain Terrain type Zo

2) applicable only for Z > Zh & Z - Zh > Zo Open 0.01-0.05

Zh = Zero-plane ht Suburban 0.1-0.5

Urban 1-5
3) not easy to integrate

6
 --

• Power law :

Height, Z (m)

7
---

8
 ---

General effects of topography

shallow esccarpment shallow hill or ridge

separation separation
separation

steep esccarpment
steep hill or ridge

Flow over shallow and steep topography

9
 --

effective slope = 0.3

Effective upwind slope for steep escarpments

Wind flow over a steep cliff

It is convenient & conservative to neglect 3D effects in structural design
10
 ---

wind speed at ht Z above the feature

topographic multiplier =
wind speed at ht Z above flat ground (upwind)

for mean wind speed Mt  1 + ks

K = constant for a certain terrain

S = 1 above feature
 = upwind slope
K = 4 for 2D ridge
= 1.6 for 2D escarpments
= 3.2 for 3D ridge

11
 ----
Bluff body aerodynamics:
thin boundary layer

narrow wake
stagnation point
reattaching shear layers
and vortex generations

stagnation point

flow around streamlined and bluff bodies

12
 ------

Pressure and force coefficients:

P = pressure
1
Bernoulli equation p + a U2 = constant
2 U = velocity
a = density
 - o
pressure coefficient Cp = where o & v o are for undisturbed flow
1
a U 0 1
2 & a Uo 2 = dynamic pressure
= 1 - (U / Uo )2 2

F
force coefficient CF =
1
a U 0 A
2
F = total aerodynamic force
A = reference area often the projected area

13
 ---

Wind & body axes ( α = angle of attack)

Lift and Drag

Fx = Dcos - Lsin
Fy = Dsin  Lcos

Fy F
D
L
Fx x

14
 ----

Flat plates and walls: (mean Drag Coefficient)

D = (PW - PL ) A 0.6D 0.4D

CD = CPW - CPL

square plate long plate

smooth flow CD = 1.1

turbulent flow CD = 1.2 smooth flow CD = 1.9

b
square wall on ground CD = 1.1 plate of (1/30 < h/b < 30) h
long wall on ground CD = 1.2 CD = 1.1 + 0.02[h/b + b/h]

15
 ----------

Spacing 0 1.5b
Cd = 1.1

Cd = 0.8

Spacing ∞

Spacing = b/2

Cd = 2.2 = 2 (1.1)
Cd by 15%

16
 -----

Porous plates:

h
A CD, = CD K P
K P = porosity factor < 1
B A
 = solidity of plate =
hB
K P = 1-(1- )2  0.2  h/B  5
as   0 K P = 2 but
 = 0 KP = 0

17
 --

Inclined plates
CN = 2 C CN = 1.5

h/4 α 0.4h 45o

Walls and hoardings for oblique wind in plan

c c

3.0 2.4 c
3.0 2.4 45o
45o 2.6 1.3 c

18
 ---

Drag in long rectangular prisms

b
3
Smooth flow d
Cd 105 < Re < 106
2

0
0 1 2 3 4 5
d/b
19
 ---

Jenson number
for bluff bodies in turbulent boundary layer flow

h characterstic dimension
J= =
Zo boundary layer (roughness) length

20
 ---

Reynolds number
Uh
R= where  = kinematic velocity of air

inertial force
=
viscous force

r / b = 0.333
1.2
r b
Cd 0.8

0.4

0
104 105 23 4 8 106
Re
21
 Flow regimes for a circular cylinder

Laminar boundary separation

layer
Re < 2  105
Cd = 1.2
Sub-critical

Turbulent
Laminar
separation
Re  5  105
Super-critical Cd  0.4

Turbulent
separation
Re  107
post-critical Cd  0.7

22
 -----

Vortex shedding:

Von Karman vortex street

When vortex shedding frequency equal to vibration frequency, lock-in occurs.

ns b
Strouhal number S t = where ns = frequency of vortex shedding
U
b = width of body

23
 ---

Sub-critical St = 0.2

Post-critical St = 0.3

St = 0.12

St = 0.06

~ 10b

St = 0.08

Strouhal numbers for vortex shedding for various cross sections

24
 ---

Helical strakes for inhibiting vortex shedding

h/3

0.1b

h
b

25
 ---
Dynamic response

tall low rise

Normalised spectral density buildings buildings

long span
bridges

wind earthquake

0 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10

Frequency, Hz
26
 ---

Buffeting = natural turbulence or gustiness in free stream flow

Gallaping = a pure transitional, cross-wind vibration leading to
aerodynamic instability
Flutter = an aerodynamic instability involving rotation of cross section

27
 Low-rise buildings

Roofed low-rise structures less than 15m in height

Factors affecting assessment of wind loads

• structure within aerodynamic roughness leading to turbulance,
interference and shelter effects
• predominating suction of roof affected by geometry
• internal pressure in a single space and its correlation with external
pressure peaks
• local vortex shedding at separated flow regions such as corners, roof
eaves and ridges

28
 ---
FLOW PATTERN
• aerodynamically flat roof with pitch  10o
• separation zone only as a time average
• separation zone bounded by free shear layer with high velocity
gradients and turbulance
• free shear layer rolls up as a vortice which when shed produce high
suction peaks

shear layer positions

high turbulance
low turbulance
Separation bubble

fluctuating
re-attackment point

29
 ---
Mean pressure distributions on pitched roofs

• for roof pitches between 10o&20o, a second flow separation occurs at the
ridge, producing high –ve pressures on both slopes

• for roof pitches greater than 20o fully separated flow occurs down wind
giving uniform negative mean pressures
• as h/d increases above 0.5, roof pressures become more negative
• for h/d ratios above 3, roof pressures will be negative on both slopes for
all pirch angles

30
 ---

h/d = 0.2 h/d = 1.0

12o

45o

31
 ---
When wind blows obliquely on to the corner, conical vortices occur creating
extreme local negative pressures

30-60o

32
 ---

effective peak wind loads on structure element depends on

1) correlation between fluctuating pressures on concerned area

2) the influence coefficient of points to a particular load effect such

as the bending moments

33
 ---

Equivalent static load distribution

• Considers the effect of fluctuating pressures and resonance
effects. only the former being important for low-rise buildings
• give the most critical effect there by governing the design

• lies between the extreme limits observed in tests

• usually is an envelope with uniform distribution over member

legths

34
 ---

Instantaneous and code pressure distribution

35
 ---

distribution in multi-span buildings

distribution on first span similar to single span build

36
 ---

• large roof with low pitch experience attached flows

• Low correlation between pressure fluctuations over areas

• arched domed roofs sensitive to pressure distribution

• quasi-steady approach not applicable

• resonant effects, although not dominant, can be significant

37
 ---

• upward pressures act over the separation bubble region of about

two-to-three wall height from the leading edge
• rest of the roof has negligible wind pressure

• In curved or arched roofs, separation occurs down wind of apex

Separation
point

38
 ---

• Arched and Domed roofs

he L

R/L = 0.2

39