Wind Tunnel Testing and the Sector-by-Sector Approach to Wind Directionality Effects
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 7
Abstract
We examine the sector-by-sector approach used by some wind tunnel operators to specify extreme wind effects. According to this approach the design of a structural member subjected to wind loads is adequate if the stresses induced by the largest sectorial wind speed with a mean recurrence interval does not exceed the maximum allowable wind-induced stress for that member, sectorial wind speeds with a mean recurrence interval being estimated separately for each of the eight 45° (or the 16 22.5°) azimuthal sectors. We show that this approach leads to estimates of wind effects that are unconservative (i.e., on the unsafe side), owing to their failure to consider the overall effects of winds blowing from all sectors.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Rigato, A., Chang, P., and Simiu, E. (2001). “Database-assisted design, standardization, and wind direction effects.” J. Struct. Eng., 127(8), 855–860.
Simiu, E., Hendrickson, E., Nolan, W., Olkin, I., and Spiegelman, C. (1985). “Multivariate distributions of directional wind speeds.” J. Struct. Eng., 111(4), 939–943.
Simiu, E., Leigh, S., and Nolan, W. (1986). “Environmental load direction and reliability bounds.” J. Struct. Eng., 112(5), 1199–1203.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 7 • July 2005
Pages: 1143 - 1145
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 8, 2004
Accepted: Nov 19, 2004
Published online: Jul 1, 2005
Published in print: Jul 2005
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Kurtis R. Gurley
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.