Abstract
Vibrations in buildings can cause occupant discomfort in the form of annoyance, headache, or sickness. While occupant comfort is considered in international standards regarding the design of high rise buildings against wind loading, it is neglected in the design of buildings with seismic protective base isolation systems. Nevertheless, due to their low flexibility, base isolated buildings can be prone to wind-induced vibrations, which makes occupant discomfort a potentially significant serviceability limit state. This paper presents a study on occupant comfort conditions in wind-excited base isolated buildings. A numerical simplified parametric procedure is proposed in order to evaluate the return period of wind events causing human discomfort. A parametric investigation is then presented to evaluate the effects of salient parameters on comfort conditions. The procedure is based on (i) the nonlinear dynamic analysis of the structure modeled as a single-degree-of-freedom oscillator with hysteretic base isolators, (ii) the digital generation of time histories of turbulent wind velocity, and (iii) comfort evaluations based on international standards. Results demonstrate that discomfort conditions can occur a few times in a year, depending upon the wind-exposure of the site, what suggests considering this serviceability limit state in the design of base isolated buildings.
Highlights
Occupant discomfort caused by wind-induced vibrations is a major serviceability limit state in the performance-based design of high rise buildings [1], whereby humans have subjective sensitivity to floor acceleration that, in turn, can cause discomfort in the form of annoyance, headache, or sickness.While it is almost accepted that discomfort is caused by intense floor acceleration, there is no agreement in the scientific literature and in international standard codes, on how to carry out comfort evaluations, as the problem involves aspects that are difficult to model, including physiological and psychological aspects [2]
While occupant comfort is considered in international standards regarding the design of high rise buildings against wind loading, it is neglected in the design of buildings with seismic protective base isolation systems
It is noted that when the wind velocity exceeds a certain critical value, discomfort conditions occur
Summary
Occupant discomfort caused by wind-induced vibrations is a major serviceability limit state in the performance-based design of high rise buildings [1], whereby humans have subjective sensitivity to floor acceleration that, in turn, can cause discomfort in the form of annoyance, headache, or sickness. While it is almost accepted that discomfort is caused by intense floor acceleration, there is no agreement in the scientific literature and in international standard codes, on how to carry out comfort evaluations, as the problem involves aspects that are difficult to model, including physiological and psychological aspects [2] In this regard, Kwok et al [3] reviewed existing studies on human perception and associated tolerance thresholds of vibrations in tall buildings, highlighting the need for the development of internationally accepted practical occupant comfort serviceability criteria, accounting for the subjective nature of the problem. The present paper is a contribution towards a more aware understanding of the role that human comfort conditions may play in the performance-based design of base isolated buildings under wind loading To this aim, a simple general methodology to evaluate the short term return period of wind events determining discomfort in wind-excited base isolated buildings is proposed, at first.
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