Effects of steady-state fluid-structure interactions on air-supported membrane structures subjected to wind actions

Abstract

With the perspective of static aeroelasticity, steady-state influences of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) on wind loads and responses of rectangular-planed air-supported membrane structure (ASMS) are investigated in this study. Steady-state FSI simulations are performed by coupling Reynolds-averaged computational fluid dynamics solving wind loads and static finite element analysis solving structural deformations. The feasibility of these simulations is validated with wind tunnel tests concerning time-averaged results. In contrast to analysis without static aeroelasticity, significant variations in wind pressure distributions and amplifications on structural wind responses due to steady-state FSI effects are observed. Subsequently, influencing factors and mechanisms of steady-state FSI effects are analyzed. These time-averaged effects are more significant with the increasing magnitude of structural wind actions, lower internal pressures and less membrane tensile stiffness. Though unlikely to induce irreversible effects as shell structures, the buckling of ASMS can make steady-state FSI more pronounced because of the coupling between stronger flow separation and larger membrane deformations. Accompanied with steady-state FSI, such buckling effect usually contributes to varying locations of the structural maximum responses and noticeable increases in response amplification factors, which deserves attentions in practice. Practically, it is realizable to evaluate these steady-state FSI effects above with simulations because of the much lower computational cost and reliable accuracy.