Collating Wind Data for Doubly-curved Shapes of Tensioned Surface Structures (Round Robin Exercise 3)

Abstract

Membrane structures are typically applied in outdoor applications as sheltering or facade element. Therefore, they are subject to the natural elements and must be designed to resist these external loads. Especially in the field of wind analysis accurate wind load determination on these pretensioned lightweight structures has to be investigated.In this research, the state-of-the-art in wind loading on tensile surface structures is discussed, with focus on the pressure coefficient distributions for basic membrane shapes. The available but fragmented Cp-distributions for different doubly-curved shapes are explored and the wind loading on basic membrane shapes is assessed (in Round Robin Exercise 3). The available results of wind tunnel tests and computational fluid dynamics simulations are compiled in a uniform way to allow comparison and interpolation. Wind tunnel results and computational fluid dynamics data are presented trough standardised data forms describing test-setup, test model and the computed Cp-distributions for the basic membrane shapes. Furthermore, where crucial data is missing, a methodology is proposed for additional tests and simulations to be run in the future within the scope for a prospective Eurocode section for doubly-curved tensile surface and shell structures.