Wind Engineering

CEE 6291
Dr. Moonis Zaheer
Associate Professor, CED, AMU Aligarh
Course objectives
• To introduce the theoretical and practical approaches available to
analyze the effect of wind loading on various wind sensitive
structures, including various structural components using design
provisions from B.I.S. Codes.
• A broader understanding of the behavior of structures as a system, in
opposition to individual elements only, is also to be achieved through
this course.
• Students can independently calculate forces generated on structures
due to normal wind as well as gusts and can independently analyze the
dynamic effects created by these wind forces.

2
Course outcomes
• After successful completion of the course students are expected to calculate,
analyze and design all the individual components of the whole building structures.
Each topic is supported by tutorial problems and the outcome is assessed.
1. An understanding of the basic nature of the wind and climate, interpretation of
basic statistical data of wind.
2. An understanding of the wind effect on the structures and nature of wind after
interaction with bluff and aeroelastic body.
3. Proficiency in calculating wind forces on structures both experimentally and
computationally.
4. Proficiency in applying the provisions of various codes (National and
International) for the analysis & design of building structures and its safety.
3
 Topics covered
Unit 1: Atmospheric Pressure and Gradient Wind, Wind Climate and Structure, Peak 3-sec, 10 min and
Hourly Mean Wind Speeds. Low Cycle Energy and Large-Scale Pressure Systems, Wind Energy and
Turbulence, Spectral Distribution and Boundary Layer (ABL) & its Characteristics.
Unit 2: Aerodynamics of Bluff Bodies, Vortex Shedding and Associated Unsteady Along and Across
Wind Forces. Peak Factor and Gust Factor Estimation. Buffeting and Ovalling, Galloping and Flutter.
Extreme Winds, Correlation and Spectral Function.
Unit 3: Experimental Procedures for Response Studies. Wind Tunnel and its Salient Features, ABL
Simulation. Basic Wind Tunnel Instrumentation for the Measurement of Flow Parameters, Forces,
Displacements and Strains. Use of Statistical Methods for the Analysis of Measured Data and its
Interpretation. Analytical Procedures for Along Wind and Across Wind Forces.
Unit 4: Wind Effects on Buildings, Chimneys, Towers and Bridges. Pressure Coefficients and Internal
Pressures, Case Studies. Codal Provisions, Design Wind Velocities, Wind Resistant Design- Indian
Codes and other International Codes of Practice.
4
Text books
1. E. Simiu and R.H. Scanlan, “Wind Effects on Structures”, Wiley. 1996
2. E. Simiu and T. Miyata, “Design of Buildings and Bridges for Wind”, Wiley. 2006
3. J.D. Holmes, “Wind Loading on Structures”, F & FN Spon. 2001
4. IS:875(part 3):2015, Wind Loads on Building and Structures.
5. Euro and American Codes on Wind Loads on Structures
Additional sources:
• Web links to e-learning: nptel
• Web based learning, Journal Papers, etc.

5
Wind: The horizontal movement of air along the earth’s surface is
called a Wind. The vertical movement of the air is known as an air
current.
Gale storm: A gale is a strong wind having speed of 60-90 km/h of
sustained surface winds.
Thunder storm: A storm with thunder and lightning and typically also
having rain or hail.
Cyclones: is a large scale air mass that rotates around a strong center
of low atmospheric pressure, anti clockwise in northern hemisphere and
clockwise in southern hemisphere.
Tornado: is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both
the earth’s surface and a funnel cloud.
Hurricanes: A storm with a violent wind (120 km/h), in particular a 6
8
Introduction
• Accurate evaluation of wind forces on structures is of
considerable importance in arriving at safe and economical
designs.
• Wind flow in the atmosphere is very complex and it varies
randomly both in space and time.
• Several factors such as terrain category, size and shape, height,
slenderness of the structure affects the design wind loads on the
response.
• According to Jack E. Cermak (1975), “Wind engineering is best
defined as the rational treatment of the interactions between
wind in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and man and his
works on the surface of earth”.
• Hence, it requires a good understanding on the basic wind
characteristics and the flow structure interaction parameters.
• In wind Engineering, elastic behaviour is important whereas in 9
Introduction-cont.
• 1940: Vortex shedding was the primary cause of failure of the Tacoma Narrows
suspension bridge in the state of Washington in 1940.
• Failure occurs at a wind speed of only about 19 m/s. It failed after it had
developed a coupled torsional and flexural mode of oscillation
• 1965: collapse of 3 cooling towers (due to interference effects), Ferribridge, UK
• 1963: First conference on wind Engineering
• Wind is generally highest during day time and lowest during night.

10
 Atmospheric boundary layer (ABL)
• It is the region between the earth surface and
the gradient wind height, , where the wind speed
conditions are independent of the ground
surface friction.
• It is in this region where all the buildings and
structures are constructed.
• This region (ABL) is of the order of 600m above
ground surface.
• The wind speed is the fundamental parameter.
Its value at any point ‘’ above ground can be
measured using anemometer and a typical trace
of the wind measured is shown in Fig. 1.
• For analysis, the time varying wind speed is
considered as consisting of mean and fluctuating
components as:
11
Atmospheric boundary layer
(ABL)
• Random fluctuations of magnitude
and direction of wind is called
turbulence in the atmosphere.
• Turbulence result in dynamic wind
loads on structures.
• Structural systems, where the mean
approach wind direction is along the
X-axis has a mean along-wind speed
of with fluctuating components
respectively along the axes X, Y and
Z (Fig. 2) .

12
 Turbulent wind characteristics
• Before analysing the dynamic effects of wind on structures, it is essential to consider
its structure.
• Natural wind consists of a steady mean flow (known as mean wind) averaged over a
suitable period upon which are superimposed fluctuations which are normally called
gusts or turbulence, as given:
• (2)
• Turbulence in wind generally varies from 10-20% of mean wind.
• Choice of a suitable averaging period has been made considering the results of the
analysis by Van der Hoven (Cook 1990), of a number of wind records of various
lengths as shown in Fig. 3.
• This spectrum consists of two distinct peaks, namely, (i) ‘macro meteorological peak’
near a frequency of 0.01 cycles/hour, corresponding to 4-day transit period and (ii)
‘micro meteorological peak’ between the time periods of 10 minutes and 3 seconds.

13
• The first peak can be identified with the
passage of a fully developed weather
system over the observation point.
• The second peak arises from the
fluctuations generated by the stirring of the
mean flow by surface friction (i.e.,
turbulence in ABL).
• The first peak is pertaining to wind climate
and the later as wind structure, which for
the purpose of dynamic analysis is generally Rigid structure: natural frequency 1 Hz
modeled as a stationary Gaussian random • Design wind loads are obtained through gust wind speed
process. Dynamically sensitive structures: natural frequency 1 Hz
• Design wind loads are obtained by gust factor mean wind loads
• The second prominent peak signifies • Mean wind speed: wind speed averaged over a period of 10 min
turbulence in the ABL and the wind to 1 hr.
structure interaction is responsible for the • Gust wind speed: wind speed sustained over a short duration of 1
gusty wind excitation on structures. sec to 2 min
• Peak gust wind speed: max. gust wind speed over a period of 10
• In between the two peaks showed above min to 1 hr.
(Fig. 3), over a range of 15 minutes and 2 • 3 sec gust wind speed: Standard; eddy size of 3 sec gust is 20 m.
hours, there exists a ‘spectral gap’ in which
the turbulence are observed to be 14
Variation of wind velocity with time and height

The average wind speed over a time period of the order of ten
minutes or more, tends to increase with height, while the
gustiness (fluctuations) tends to decrease with height.
Fluctuations are more near G.L 15
 Variation of mean wind with height
• Gradient wind: At large heights above the earth’s surface, where the effects of surface
friction can be ignored, the resultant of (i) forces produced by the atmospheric
pressure differences on a given mass of air and (ii) forces due to the curvature and
rotation of the earth, produce a steady motion of wind known as gradient wind, .
• Gradient height: At some height above ground, the movement of air is no longer
affected by ground obstruction. This height is called gradient height () which is a
function of ground roughness.
• The unobstructed wind speed is called gradient wind speed () and it is considered to be
constant above gradient height.
• Below the gradient height, wind is retarded by surface friction from a value of at the
gradient height to a value of zero at the earth’s surface.
• The gradient height normally lies between 250 m and 600 m above the ground level
depending upon the surface roughness (Cook 1990; Simiu and Scanlan 1996).

16
 Wind profile
Wind profile is the variation of mean wind speed with height above ground. It is usually represented by power law or logarithmic
law.
logarithmic law is valid in the bottom 20 to 30% of the boundary
layer.

17
18
 Modelling of mean wind

Along-wind speed is affected by

1. Height above G.L
2. Terrain category
3. Averaging period (Hourly)

19
 Turbulence Intensity Vs Height
• The ratio of standard deviation
value of fluctuating wind speed,
to the mean wind speed, is
called the turbulence intensity, I
(Simiu and Scanlan 1996), which
is given as

• The turbulence intensity.

The root mean square of wind speed, and
The mean wind speed.
• The turbulence intensity,
decreases with height because
mean wind speed increase with
height and the fluctuation of wind 20
decreases. as shown in Fig. 6.
 Turbulence Spectrum (PSD/PSDF)

• The turbulence spectrum describes the

Finally in the ‘dissipation range, eddies
distribution of the wind turbulent energy with
frequency. become so small that viscosity
becomes significant and their energy is
• A low-frequency fluctuation implies that a dissipated as heat.
large eddy has convected past, and a high- When the natural frequencies of
frequency implies a small eddy. structures fall in the ‘inertial sub-
• By treating the wind speed fluctuations as a range’, they are considered
stationary random process, one can define dynamically wind-sensitive.
the power spectral density of denoted by ,
known as the turbulence spectrum.
• The typical shape of turbulence spectra
follows the phenomena of energy cascading
(Cook 1990) as shown in Fig. 7.
• The area under the curve can be divided into
three ranges. In the ‘production range’ at the
low-frequency end, turbulence is generated
as large eddies from instabilities of the mean
flow.
• In the ‘inertial sub-range’ (Engineering
21
importance) over the middle range of
 Turbulence Spectrum
• Many empirical relations have been
employed to represent the
turbulence spectrum in the wind
engineering field.
• Even though, each mathematical
form has their own limitations for
application, the Von Karman
spectrum (Holmes 2001) has been
commonly used due to its closer fit
to grid generated turbulence in the
laboratory as well as along wind
turbulence of atmospheric wind
conditions.
• The spectral density function Von
Karman is given by:
22
 Peak Gust Wind Speed
• Gust wind speed: is defined as wind speed sustained over a short
duration of 1s to 2 minutes.
• Peak gust wind speed: is the maximum gust wind speed over 1 hour.
• It may be noted that lesser the averaging time, higher will be the peak
gust wind speed.
• Thus a peak gust speed of one second duration will be of higher
magnitude than a 3 second peak gust wind speed.
• The hourly mean wind speed can be related to the peak gust wind speed
of ‘t’ seconds duration by (Lam and Lam, 1985).

23
Basic and Design wind speed
• For the design of a
building/structure, the
complexities due to variation in
wind characteristics (hourly
mean wind, turbulence intensity,
turbulence spectrum etc.) can
be dealt in a systematic manner.
Hence, for different zones of the
country, IS 875 (Part 3) -2015
provides basic wind speed which
corresponds to
• (i) 10 m height above mean
ground level
• (ii) peak gust wind speed
averaged over a short time
interval of about 3 s
• (iii) open terrain (Category 2) 24
• This basic wind speed shall be modified to include the following
effects to get design wind speed, at any height , for the chosen
structure:
• a) Risk level,
• b) Terrain roughness and height of structure,
• c) Local topography, and
• d) Importance factor for the cyclonic region.
• Therefore:
•
• where,
= basic wind speed (Fig. 11); and
= probability factor (risk coefficient); = terrain roughness and
height factor = topography factor, = importance factor for
cyclonic region = a height above the ground.
• The values of shall be as specified in IS: 875 (Part 3) - 2015.
25
Formulation of Probability Factor ()

• The basic wind speed corresponds to 50 year return period. Alternately, it

corresponds to a building/structure with an intended life of 50 years and
associated with a risk level of 63%.
• The basic wind speed may be exceeded in an extreme storm of
exceptional severity.
• IS: 875 (Part 3) - 2015, by recognising this fact, recommends useful
service life of different types of structures, depending upon the functional
utilities and the degree of hazard to life and property, in the event of
failure.
• For example, in case of post-disaster service structures such as hospitals
and important structures such as nuclear power plants, etc. a longer
service life and/or less risk level is to be considered compared to that of
residential houses or office buildings.
• For the same level of risk, a structure with a longer life period should be
designed for a higher wind speed.
• The above concepts are accomplished through a proper selection of the
factor. 26
Terrain Roughness and Height Factor ()
• It is to be noted that basic wind speed corresponds to 10 m height
above ground level in open terrain (i.e. terrain category 2).
• For any building taller than 10 m located in a different terrain other than
open terrain, i.e. terrain categories 1, 3 and 4, needs the basic wind
speed be modified with appropriate factor.
• IS code provides factor to obtain design wind speed corresponding to
any height more than or equal to 10 m and to any of the 4 terrain
categories. Hence, the factor is defined as (Venkateswarlu [Link] 1989):

• Where terrain category number (1 to 4)

• level at which gust wind speed is required
• = terrain roughness length for terrain category “”

27
Topography Factor ()
• Wind flows in the atmosphere are also affected by presence of
hills, valleys, escarpments, cliffs, etc. which are special
topographic features.
• The basic wind speed corresponds to only a flat, open terrain, for
which = 1.0.
• Limited guidelines on factor are given in the Code for hills/ridges
and cliffs/escarpment types of topography.
• However, for complex terrains, separate studies in wind tunnels
are recommended.

28
Importance Factor for Cyclonic Region ()
• Initially, the extreme value analysis of the wind speed data
corresponding well-behaved wind conditions and cyclonic wind
conditions to bring out the basic wind speed map of India (IS:875
Part 3 – 1987).
• Further, extreme value analysis of the wind speed data
corresponding to cyclonic wind conditions alone has been carried
out to bring out cyclone wind speed map of India (Fig. 12) by
covering the West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil
Nadu on the east coast of India and the Gujarat on the west coast
of India.
• Based on this study, an importance factor for cyclonic region ()
has been formulated and given in IS: 875 (Part 3) – 2015.
• The following values of (as recommended in IS 15498) are
stipulated as applicable according to the importance of the
structure: 29
For structures of post-cyclone
importance for emergency
services (such as cyclone
shelters, hospitals, schools,
communication towers, etc) : 1.3
For Industrial structures: 1.15
For all other structures: 1.00

30
Bluff body aerodynamics-
Introduction
• Bodies subjected to fluid flow are classified as streamlined or bluff, depending on
their overall shape.
• A body is defined as streamlined if a desired effort is made to align its shape with
the anticipated streamlines in the flow (e.g., race cars and aeroplanes).
• Streamlines around stream line bodies closely follow the contours of the body.
• If buildings/structures tend to block the flow, it is said to be bluff or blunt.
• Civil Engineering structures are generally classified as bluff bodies with respect to
the air flow around them.
• One of the most obvious features of the flow around bluff bodies is the formation
of large vortices in their wakes.

31
Bluff body aerodynamics-
Introduction
• For stream lines bodies, wakes are
small and for small angles of attack,
the lift force developed is
considerably greater than the drag
force.
• Fig.1 shows the differences between
streamlined and bluff bodies.
• Understanding the complex
phenomenon of bluff body
aerodynamics is necessary to ensure
the safe design of structures for wind
action.
32
Pressure and Force Coefficients

33
 Pressure and Force Coefficients

• Generally, wind loads on structures are estimated using the pressure or force coefficients.
• Values of these coefficients are depends on the shape of the structure and are obtained using
wind tunnel experiments or using numerical studies.
• Bernoulli equation:
• For a viscosity-free steady flow, the Bernoulli equation relates the velocity and the static
pressure along a streamline by:

• The first term denote the static pressure and second term represents the dynamic pressure.

34
 Application of Bernoulli equation:
• Pressure, , and velocity , of the fluid in the outer region of the bluff-body
flow are related by Bernoulli’s eq.
• ant
• The central streamline divides the flow in two halves: above this
streamline, all the flow goes over the plate and below this streamline all
the flow goes under the plate.
• Along this dividing line, the fluid moves towards the plate. Since the flow
cannot pass the plate, the fluid comes to rest at the point where it meets
the plate (stagnates).
• Bernoulli’s eq along the stagnation streamline gives

• Where the point is far upstream and point is at the stagnation point.
Since the velocity at the stagnation point is zero,

35
• Where is the stagnation pressure. It is the highest pressure found anywhere in the
flow field, and it occurs at the stagnation point. It is the sum of static pressure and
the dynamic pressure

by 𝑝 and
• Denoting the pressure and velocity in the region outside the influence of the body

• We can also express the pressure anywhere in the flow in the form of a non-
dimensional pressure coefficient , where

36
 Pressure coefficient,
• The surface pressure on the body , a • The pressure is known as the dynamic
non-dimensional coefficient is given pressure.
by:
• In the regions where the flow velocity is
greater than , the pressure coefficients
• In the region where Bernoulli’s eq. are negative.
holds: • Furthermore, Bernaoull’s eq. is not valid
in the separated flow and wake regions,
but reasonably good predictions of
• At the stagnation point, where is surface pressure coefficients can be
zero, above eq. gives . this is the obtained from above eq., by taking the
value measured by a total pressure velocity, , as just outside the shear
of pitot tube into a flow. layers and wake region.
37
38
Drag and lift force

39
 Drag and lift force
• Drag is the aerodynamic force produced
by a flowing fluid over a body.
• It is in the direction of the flow and is
usually referred to as along-wind force
(Drag) in wind engineering.
• Lift is the aerodynamic force developed
by a flowing fluid in a direction normal
to the flow direction. e.g., vertically
upwards for an aircraft flying at constant
speed and direction in a horizontal plane.
• It is horizontal in the case of ground
mounted structures like building, tower
etc., and is usually referred to as the
cross-wind force (lift).
 Flow separation
• Flow Separation depends on Reynolds
number, Re, surface roughness, and
turbulence.
• The separated region behind a bluff
body is called the wake.
• Separation will occur for a wing at high
angles of attack (above about 15
degrees) and this is often referred to as
stall.
• For lower angles of attack: no
separation takes place.
• Fig.5 shows the separated region
behind a circular cylinder, and behind a
wing at a high angle of attack. 41
42
 Pressures on bluff bodies
• From Fig.6, it is observed that even though the approach
flow is smooth and without turbulence, the body produces
a large wake, which is unsteady and fluctuates from side
to side.
• The Bernoulli equation can be used in the flow far from
the wake to connect the local pressures and velocities to
the freestream values.
• This is not the case in the wake, where the sum of the
static and dynamic pressures are less than the freestream
values.
• This loss in mechanical energy of the fluid has been
converted to turbulence. A separation bubble is observed
on the windward corner of the lower sidewall in Fig. 6
• In this situation, the mean flow direction is reversed on the
body surface, and “reverse flow” would be observed on
the surface of a building at this location.
• Further downstream the flow reattaches. Hence it is clear
that the flow is complicated and unsteady than that flow 43
over a streamlined shape (Fig.7)
 Flow around some common bluff body shapes
• At Re = 0.3, the flow turns the sharp corner and
follows both front and rear contours of the plate.
• At a slightly higher Reynolds number (Re = l0), the
flow separates at the corners and creates two large,
symmetric vortices behind the plate that remain
attached to the back of the plate.
• At (Re = 250) the symmetrical vortices are broken
and replaced by cyclically alternating vortices that
form by turns at the top and bottom edges and are
swept downstream.
• At still higher Re ≥ 1000, the inertia forces
predominate; large distinct vortices have little
possibility of forming and, instead, a generally
turbulent wake is formed behind the plate.
• Overall, these results illustrate the changes in the
flow with Reynolds number, proceeding from
predominantly viscous effects to predominantly
inertial effects.
44
 Two dimensional flow around a circular cylinder
• Flow around 2-D cylinder is given in Fig. 9. At (Re  1) the flow
remains attached to the cylinder throughout its complete periphery.
• At Re  20, the flow form remains symmetrical but flow separation
occurs and large wake eddies are formed.
• For 30 ≤ Re ≤ 5000/OR 250, alternating vortices are shed from the
cylinder and form a clear “vortex trail” in downstream.
• Further higher Reynolds number into the range 5000 ≤ Re ≤ 200000,
the attached flow upstream of the separation point is laminar. In the
separated flow three-dimensional patterns are observed, and
transition to turbulent flow occurs in the wake-farther downstream
from the cylinder for the lower Reynolds numbers and nearer the
cylinder surface as the Reynolds numbers increase.
• For the largest Reynolds numbers in this range, the cylinder’s wake
undergoes transition to turbulence immediately after separation, and
a turbulent wake is produced between the separated shear layers.
• Beyond Re  200000 the wake narrows appreciably. Other bluff
bodies, notably triangles, squares, rectangles and other regular
prisms, also give rise to analogous vortex- shedding phenomena.
45
 Three dimensional flow around buildings
• Wind flows around buildings is one of the
examples of three-dimensional flows that
cannot be described acceptably by two-
dimensional models.
• Wind flow patterns around a tall building are
the result of the building shape, the boundary
layer wind profile, turbulence of the boundary
layer and the aero-elastic effects of buildings.
• For the simplest situation, standalone
condition of tall building., the flow pattern is
showing variety of phenomena and is
particularly very complex as it is three-
dimensional, highly unsteady and contains
several interacting vortex systems.
• Figure. 10 illustrate the typical wind flows
that occur on a building. 46
Causes of Dynamic oscillations of structures
• The dynamic component which essentially causes the oscillation of structure is generated
due to three reasons
• 1. Gust; 2. Vortex shedding; and 3. Buffeting
• Gust- Apart from steady wind, there are effects of gusts which last for few seconds and
yields a more realistic assessment of wind load.
• In practice the peak gust are likely to be observed over an average time of 3.5 to 15 secs
depending on location and size of structure.
• Larger structure will be affected more by gust of larger duration and thus subjected to
smaller pressure compared to smaller structure.
• In IS & ACI codes, gust velocity averaged for 3-seconds, whereas BS code gives this as
hourly mean wind velocity and Eurocode for a period of 10 minutes.
• As the averaging time decrease, the max. velocity of wind increases.
• A recommendation of estimating the mean wind is the 10-min average!
• "This has the advantage of averaging over a period that is sufficiently long to incorporate
most of the shorter period fluctuations in wind but is sufficiently short to be regarded as
representing a period of near-constant background mean wind." 47
• The pressures as calculated by the 3 sec gust is generally used for all types of
structures, including individual structural elements like roofs, cladding, glazing etc.
• These structures and their elements are designed by static method only.
• For tall, slender and long span structures (tall buildings, chimneys, hyperbolic cooling
towers, cable-stayed bridges, etc.) and whose natural frequency is less than 1.0 Hz,
dynamic aspects due to wind induced oscillations and excitations need to be
investigated.
• These structures may be subjected to cross-wind oscillations, galloping, flutter and
ovalling, besides along-wind effects.
• For designing these structures, the method given in IS 875 (Part 3) – 1987 is by using
quasi-static method called Gust Factor method (GFM).
• The value of Gust Factor varies around 1.0 to 2.0.
• The wind loads as calculated by the Gust Factor method are more than those due to
the peak-wind 3 sec gust method by about 15 to 20%.

48
 • Consider a prismatic building subjected to a
Vortex Shedding smooth wind flow.
• The originally parallel upwind streamlines
• When wind acts on a bluff body, forces are displaced on either side of the building
and moments in three mutually due to boundary layer separation.
perpendicular direction are generated. • This results in spiral vortices being shed
• For civil structures, the force and periodically from the sides into the
moment corresponding to the vertical downstream flow of wind creating a low
pressure zone due to shedding of eddies
axis (lift and yawing moment) are of little called the wake.
significance.
• When the vortices are shed across; wind
• Therefore the flow of wind is considered component are generated in the transverse
two-dimensional consisting of along and direction.
transverse wind response.
• Along wind response refer to drag
forces, and transverse wind is the term
used to describe crosswind.
• The crosswind response typically
dominates over the along-wind 49
response for tall buildings.
 Vortex Shedding

• Vortices: A vortex is defined as the motion of This type of shedding, which gives rise to
multitude of fluid particles around a common structural vibrations in the flow direction as
center
well as in the transverse direction, is called
• At low wind speeds, since the shedding vortex shedding.
occurs at the same instant on either side of
the building, there is no tendency for the The frequency of shedding depends mainly
building to vibrate in the transverse on shape and size of the structure, velocity
direction. of flow and to a lesser degree on surface
• It is therefore subject to along-wind roughness, turbulence of flow.
oscillations parallel to the wind direction.
• At higher speeds, the vortices are shed Buffeting
alternately, first from one and then from the
other side. A downwind structure could oscillate due
to vortex shedding of adjacent structure
• When this occurs, there is a force in the
along-wind direction as before, but in and is known as buffeting.
addition, there is an force in the transverse
direction. 50
 Vortex induced vibrations
• Vortex-induced vibrations occur when vortices are shed alternately from opposite sides
of the structure.
• This gives rise to a fluctuating load perpendicular to the wind direction.
• When a vortex is formed on one side of the structure, the wind speed is increased on the
other side, and according to Bernoulli’s theory, this result in reduced pressure.
• Thus, the structure is subjected to a lateral force away from the side where a vortex is
formed.
• As the vortices are shed alternately first from one side then the other, a harmonically
varying lateral load with the same frequency as the frequency of the vortex shedding is
formed.
• The frequency of the lateral load caused by vortex shedding is proportional to , where U
is the mean wind velocity and d is the diameter of the chimney. The factor of
proportionality is called the Strouhal number (𝑆𝑡). Therefore,

51
 Vortex induced vibrations
• The value of the Strouhal number for the circular
cross section is also a function of Reynolds number.
• In civil engineering structures, large vibrations may
occur if the dominating frequency of vortex
shedding, is matches the natural frequency, for the
structure vibrating in a mode of cross-wind
direction. Therefore the critical wind velocity
defined by = is

• Vortex shedding also generates a harmonically

varying longitudinal load with a frequency of 2
• However, contribution by this load is insignificant
for most structures when compared with load
caused by buffeting forces in the longitudinal
direction. 52
Static analysis
Forcing frequency

Natural frequency

53
Free vibration analysis
Forcing frequency

Natural frequency

Mode shapes is due to the

ratios of mass and
stiffness forces
Vibration modes
(longitudinal/lateral) are
due to geometry of design
and frequency

54
Harmonic (Sinusoidal) force

55
Multi-harmonic force

56
Random vibration due to wind

57
How to deal with dynamic gust
effects

58
Types of analysis• Transient dynamic analysis:
• Analysis in which damping and inertial
• Quasi-static analysis: forces are considered.
• Quasi-static means very slow rate
• Damping ratio of 2% is
process
considered for the transient
dynamic analysis.
• Analysis in which damping and
inertial forces are ignored and only
stiffness forces are considered. • Occurs with resonance
• In dynamic analysis, we have
• For quasi-static analysis, background response (low
frequency response) and
multiple peaks are expected in
resonant response. In dynamic
analysis, we are concerned
• Occurs without resonance

only fundamental mode i.e., 59

Methods of assessment of wind loads/response
1. Full scale experiments……very difficult
2. Numerical methods…..Computational wind engineering (CFD), e.g., Newmark
method, Wilson method
3. Wind tunnel experiments…..computationally easy; Von karman Spectrum is
generally used
4. All three methods are complementary to each other
5. In computational methods, wind separation did not simulate easily. Therefore,
the only option is to do wind tunnel experimentation.
When we need wind tunnel investigation:
• Unconventional shapes
• No force coefficients are available in codes
• Structures located in groups…interference effects
• Occupant comfort
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Dynamic wind effects-Gust
response factor
• Introduction:
• To meet the demand of population, high rise buildings are constructed.
• These structures are subjected to turbulent boundary layer in the atmosphere.
• Wind loads are one of the governing design loads for such tall buildings.
• As wind is essentially a random phenomenon both in time and space, it is dynamic
in nature with mean and fluctuating components.
• When the natural frequencies of structures are low enough (< 1 Hz) to be excited
by the turbulence in the natural wind, the structures are considered to be
dynamically wind sensitive.
• When the natural frequencies of structures are (> 1 Hz); it is Earthquake sensitive
• The dynamic effects of wind on structures are usually dealt using equivalent static
wind loads. 61
Dynamic loading and response
• Dynamic loading varies with time in magnitude and/or direction.
• Dynamic loading can be divided into three categories: (i) periodic loads, (ii)
impact loads and (iii) random loads.
• The dynamic response of a structure resulting from this dynamic loading also
depends on the structural characteristics such as the stiffness, mass and damping
of the structure.
• The dynamic equilibrium of a linear and viscously damped single degree of
freedom (SDOF) system is given as:

• where , and are the mass, damping coefficient and stiffness of the SDOF system,
F and are the dynamic load and response of the system at time ,
• and are the velocity and acceleration of the movement of the system.
• When loads are dynamic, it is better to work in frequency domain because time 62
Spectral technique (PSDF/PSD)

• S.D is also called rms response

• Area under PSDF is nothing but
variance i.e., square of S.D or rms
• PSDF/PSD-it is a plot between
distribution of energy w.r.t different
frequencies

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 EQUIVALENT STATIC WIND LOAD APPROACH
• Most of the codes of practice for design of tall building against dynamic wind
loads adopt Equivalent Static Wind Load (ESWL) approach.
• The gust response factor (GRF) approach proposed by Davenport (1967) has been
widely used in design codes and standards worldwide for modelling along-wind
loading.
• This approach leads to an ESWL given by the mean along-wind or drag load
multiplied by a GRF, often associated with the tip displacement.
• In other way, the GRF is defined as the ratio of peak displacement to mean
displacement in the along-wind or drag direction.

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 BACKGROUND TO GUST RESPONSE FACTOR
• The fluctuating along-wind or drag loads induced by atmospheric turbulence are a
function of both the shape and size of the building and the structure of the
approaching turbulent flow.
• Since small gusts are more localised on a building, they are less effective in
producing resultant fluctuating along-wind loads than those produced by larger
gusts which can completely engulf a structure.
• To allow for these variations, Davenport (1967) has derived the following
relationship between the fluctuating along-wind load and along-wind velocity

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Aerodynamic admittance function is NOT used when eddies size are larger than the size of the structure,
e.g., street lights/small bill boards etc. when eddy size are small than size of the structure, then we used it 66
Gust spectrum or velocity spectrum…..Obtained from field measurements
Aerodynamic admittance……(Depend on particular shape); Obtained from wind tunnel experiments
Mechanical admittance……Depends on damping ratio damping/critical damping); and frequency ratio
= Forcing frequency/natural frequency)
Mechanical admittance function takes into account of the dynamic amplification due to resonance
effects. 67
Gust vs Sustained wind speed

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Gust response factor
• ASCE defines gust response factor as the factor that accounts for:
• Additional loading effects due to wind turbulence over the fastest-mile wind speed.
• It also includes loading effects due to dynamic amplification for flexible structures,
but does not take into account cross-wind deflection, vortex shedding or instability
due to flutter or galloping.
• In short, the GRF can be defined as the static equivalent of the dynamic response of
the structure to the fluctuations in the mean wind speed resulting from turbulence.
• Parameters affecting the GRF
critical damping ratio;
fundamental frequency of the structure;
height of the structure;
width of the structure;
basic wind speed; and
type of terrain.
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70
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 Modelling of mean wind

Along-wind speed is affected by

1. Height above G.L
2. Terrain category
3. Averaging period (Hourly)

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 Gust response factor
• Consider a line like structure with natural frequencies , ,… the corresponding mode shapes of 1(z),
2(z),..N(z) . The peak response of the structure along the height can be given as

• The area under the response spectrum (Fig. 4) comprises two parts, (i) the quasi-static or steady state or broad
banded response spectrum area and (ii) the resonant or narrow banded response spectrum.
• Accordingly, the r.m.s. dynamic response has been divided into background response (in the low-frequency
region) and resonant response (around the natural frequency) and the corresponding peak response is given as

• The GRF is given as ratio of peak response to mean response as given below:

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