The use of aerodynamic databases for the effective estimation of wind effects in main wind-force resisting systems: application to low buildings

As a part of the ongoing National Institute of Standards and Technology res earch on the development of a new generation of standard provisions for win d loads, we present results of a pilot project on the estimation of wind ef fects in low-rise building frames. We use records of wind pressure time his tories measured at a large number of taps on the building surface in the bo undary layer wind tunnel of the University of Western Ontario. Time histori es of bending moments in a frame are obtained by adding pressures at all ta ps tributary to that frame multiplied by the respective tributary areas and influence coefficients. The latter were obtained from the frame designs pr ovided by CECO Building Systems. We compare results obtained by using the p ressure time history records with results based on ASCE 7 standard provisio ns. The comparison suggests that provisions which use aerodynamic databases containing the type of data described in this work can result in designs t hat are significantly more risk-consistent as well as both safer and more e conomical than designs based on conventional standard provisions. We outlin e future research on improved design methodologies made possible by the pro posed approach to the estimation of wind effects. We note that the use of t he proposed methodologies is fully consistent with the ASCE 7 Standards ins ofar as these allow the use of wind-tunnel data for estimating wind load ef fects. Finally, We note that the proposed methodologies may be used for dam age assessment for insurance purposes. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Scien ce Ltd. All rights reserved.