A NEW FORCE BALANCE DATA-ANALYSIS METHOD FOR WIND RESPONSE PREDICTIONS OF TALL BUILDINGS

The theory currently used to predict the wind-induced response of buil dings from force balance measurements is briefly reviewed. For buildin gs with coupled 3-D mode shapes, sources of uncertainty in the techniq ue's response predictions are not just from errors in the mode shape c orrections, but also from limitations in not being able to allow for c oupled terms and higher mode effects. A new force balance data analysi s technique which is designed to overcome these limitations is describ ed. The new method eliminates the need to guess mode shape correction factors for buildings with non-linear sway and non-uniform torsional m ode shapes. The reliability and accuracy of this method has been exami ned and validated analytically and experimentally to date. Some result s of the analytical studies are presented here which demonstrate the p ower of the new method. It is believed that the new method will become the standard force balance data analysis method of tomorrow.