Wind effects on high-rise structures

This paper presents selected field measurement results of wind characteristics and structural responses of four super tall buildings, Central Plaza (374 m, 78 floors) and The Center (350 m, 79 floors) in Hong Kong, Di Wang Tower (384 m, 78 floors) in Shenzhen and Citic Plaza Tower (391 m, 80 floors) in Guangzhou, during passages of several typhoons. The field data such as wind speeds, wind directions and acceleration responses were simultaneously and continuously measured from the four super tall buildings during typhoons. Detailed analysis of the field data was conducted to investigate the characteristics of typhoon-generated wind and wind-induced vibrations of these super tall buildings under typhoon conditions. The dynamic characteristics of the four buildings were determined on the basis of the field measurements and comparisons with those calculated from the computational models of the buildings were made. Furthermore, the full scale measurements were compared with wind tunnel results to evaluate the accuracy of the model test results and adequacy of the techniques used in wind tunnel tests. Finally, a case study of FEM model updating for Nanjing TV Tower (340 m) on the basis of field measurements is presented.