Field measurements of typhoon effects on the tallest building in Hong Kang

This paper presents the field measurement results of wind effects on a super-tall building in Hong Kong during the passage of several typhoons in 2007 and 2008. The field data such as wind speed, wind direction, wind pressure, acceleration and displacement responses were simultaneously and continuously recorded from the tall building by a monitoring system installed by the authors. Detailed analysis of the field data was carried out to investigate the wind effects on the super-tall building. The characteristics of the typhoon-generated wind including turbulence intensity, gust factor, integral length scale and power spectral density of fluctuating wind speed were analyzed. The building's dynamic properties were also identified based on the measurements. The damping ratios of the building were evaluated by random decrement technique, which demonstrated obvious amplitude-dependent characteristics and increased with increasing amplitude of the building during typhoons. The results presented in this paper are expected to be of interest and of use to researchers and engineers involved in analysis and design of super-tall buildings.