Exploring multi-hazard effects on a tall building and its non-structural elements through simultaneous earthquake and wind loading

Abstract

The tall building construction sector has lately exhibited an increasing development, noticeably in Europe. This activity is aligned with European policies regarding soil conservation and social housing. Due to their slenderness, such structures are remarkably sensitive to wind and earthquake loads. Nevertheless, current building codes, standards, and most scientific literature neglect the interaction of these events as simultaneity has always been considered a rare design case due to the limited effect on the structural elements. The present work carries out a careful statistical investigation on the occurrence of strong earthquakes accompanied by a wind load event, characterized by non-negligible daily mean-wind velocities in Italy, where more than one-third of its area is occupied by high mountains, limiting the urban development to confined zones. Subsequently, the effect of the simultaneous occurrence of earthquake and wind loads has been studied, both from the numerical and experimental points of view (i.e., shaking table and wind tunnel tests) to evaluate the consequences on structural and non-structural elements (e.g., façades) of a building case study. Results show that the cumulative effect of typical and non-catastrophic daily mean wind velocity (i.e., in the range 5-10 m/s at 10 m from the ground) and a typical and non-catastrophic seismic daily shock (i.e., with magnitude in the range 3-5), can trigger large inter-story drift ratio values and fatigue, causing damage to non-structural elements - like façades - and consequently a risk for occupants and high economic losses.