Codification of Wind Loads on Buildings Using Bluff Body Aerodynamics and Climatological Data Bases.
Codification of Wind Loads on Buildings Using Bluff Body
Aerodynamics and Climatological Data Bases.
(717 K)
Simiu, E.; Stathopoulos, T.
Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics,
Vol. 69-71, 497-506, 1997.
Keywords:
wind engineering; bluff bodies; codes; standards; expert
systems; structural engineering; structural design;
climate; aerodynamics; geometry
Abstract:
Current data storage and computational capabilities
allow the development of a new generation of standards
whose provisions on wind loads can be structured as
knowledge-based systems drawing the requisite
information from large data bases. We show several
examples demonstrating that such provisions could be
significantly more realistic and risk-consistent than
their conventional counterparts, which are of necessity
based on reductive formulas, tables and plots. We point
out the necessary interaction between development of
knowledge-based standard provisions and the acquisition
of aerodynamics and wind climatology data. Finally, we
suggest that in addition to serving structural
designers' needs, knowledge-based standard provisions
could serve the insurance industry as certified hazard
assessment tools that would be more realistic and
dependable than similar tools developed without the
benefit of careful public scruntiny and broad
professional consensus.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899