THE GENERALIZATION AND SIMPLIFICATION OF WIND LOADS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR COMPUTATIONAL METHODS

The increasing power Of computational methods in fluid dynamics raises the question of their future development in the context of wind engin eering. To what problems can they best be applied? Will computational methods replace analytical and experimental methods such as wind tunne ls? What are the new opportunities and limitations to their use? Here we will consider primarily wind loading but the remarks reply also to engineering design, for wind energy, air pollution and other problems. The chain like character of the wind loading process is pointed out. The determination either by computation or experiment of the pressure field on a body is one vital link. The contribution of computational m ethods to strengthening weaknesses in other links is described. Exampl es include the study of various storm types, the influence of complex terrain conditions and corrections for wind tunnel blockage. It is poi nted out that generalizing the approach to be applicable to a wide var iety of structures and simplifying the description so that important d esign sensitivities can be identified are both important. The paper su ggests that orthonormal decomposition of the pressure field together w ith the use of influence functions and mode shapes are important tools . The computational implications are discussed.