Building Motion in Wind

By N. Isyumov

Proceedings of a session at the ASCE Convention, held in Seattle, Washington, April 8, 1986. Sponsored by the Aerodynamics Committee of the Aerospace Division and the Wind Effects Committee of the Structural Division of ASCE. This collection contains six papers examining the motions of buildings produced by wind. The trend towards higher structural efficiency and lower cost has resulted in a generation of lighter and more flexible buildings with a lower inherent capacity for energy dissipation or damping. Unfortunately, this trend has produced structures that are more sensitive to the dynamic action of wind. The emphasis in the design of modern tall buildings has therefore shifted to requirements that control building movements or drift and that limit wind-induced accelerations. Two papers deal with the action of wind on two important tall buildings where designers relied on wind tunnel model tests for information on wind-induced loads and building motions. The design of the Columbia Seafirst Center took advantage of economies possible as a result of wind tunnel studies., and viscoelastic dampers were added to limit the building's motion and wind-induced acceleration. The recorded response of the Allied Bank Plaza during Hurricane Alicia is an extremely important contribution to the understanding of the action of wind on tall buildings; this is the only existing record of the response of a major building under the action of design winds. Another paper discusses a survey of structural damping found in tall buildings, presenting typical damping values for steel and concrete buildings and discussing the variability of such estimates and its implication on design. The final papers consider damping systems that can be added to tall buildings in order to limit their motion. The use of tuned mass dampers and viscoelastic damping units is discussed and examples are presented to show their practical effectiveness. The viscoelastic dampers used in the Columbia Seafirst Center are described.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 087262434X
• ISBN13: 9780872624344
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Amer Society of Civil Engineers
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.3" x 5.8"