Modeling of wind-induced pressure fluctuations on roofs of low-rise buildings

Abstract

A systematic study on the modeling of wind-induced pressures on low building roofs with application to extreme value and fatigue analysis is described in this paper. Extensive wind tunnel measurements form a basis to carry out the modeling. Based on the Fourier representation of time series, a general approach for simulating Gaussian as well as non-Gaussian wind pressure fluctuations has been presented. Both Fourier amplitude and phase required for the simulations are modeled individually. A simple stochastic model is proposed for the generation of Fourier phase of non-Gaussian time series. An empirical model has been suggested for the synthetic generation of normalized spectra; synthetic spectra are utilized for the generation of Fourier amplitude part. Towards the generalization of the simulation scheme, the standard spectral shapes associated with various zones of each roof and their parameters are established. The efficiency of this simulation methodology is illustrated with several examples. Applications of the simulation methodology have also been discussed. The established simulation scheme can be used to generate fluctuating wind pressures on low building roofs in a generic fashion not only for the evaluation of extreme pressures but also for fatigue design purposes.Key words: low-rise building, modeling, roofs, wind pressure.