Effects of a Construction Tower Crane on the Wind Loading of a High-Rise Building
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 11
Abstract
High-rise construction projects commonly use a tower crane attached to the building by braced connections along its height. The presence of the tower crane modifies the aerodynamic cross section of the building and can alter the expected wind loading characteristics. Wind tunnel tests were carried out to examine the impact of the solidity ratio, and location of the tower crane, on the wind loading for the overall building-crane system. Tower cranes of two solidity ratios, 20 and 100%, were tested. A tower crane having one of the two solidity ratios tested was placed at one of three locations along the building face in order to define a quantitative range of increased wind loads. Increases in mean and fluctuating loading were observed for particular wind directions, and were more pronounced for the greater solidity ratio. The increase was the most significant for the torsion base moment. The impact of the tower crane was reduced as its location neared the center of the building face. Recommendations are made for the choice of tower crane location.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writer would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory technical staff for conducting the experimental components of this study. The writer would also like to gratefully acknowledge the permission granted by Slazer Enterprises [Figs. 1 and 2(b)] and Balfour Beatty [Fig. 2(a)] to include the photos presented in the article. The contributions of Messrs. S. Farquhar and D. Gatey are also greatly appreciated.
References
ASCE. (1999). “Wind tunnel studies of buildings and structures.” ASCE manuals and reports on engineering practice no. 67, Reston, VA.
Eden, J. F., Butler, A. J., and Patient, J. (1983). “Wind tunnel tests on model crane structures.” Eng. Struct., 5(4), 289–298.
Eden, J. F., Iny, A., and Butler, A. J. (1981). “Cranes in storm winds.” Eng. Struct., 3(3), 175–180.
Engineering Science Data Unit (ESDU). (1982). “Strong winds in the atmosphere boundary layer. Part 1: Mean-hourly wind speeds.” ESDU Data Item 82026, ESDU, London.
Engineering Science Data Unit (ESDU). (1983). “Strong winds in the atmosphere boundary layer. Part 2: Discrete gust speeds.” ESDU Data Item 83045, ESDU, London.
Garber, J. (1999). “Wind loads on and wind-induced overturning of container cranes.” MS thesis, Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Ont., Canada.
Isyumov, N. (1995). “Motion perception, tolerance and mitigation.” Proc., 5th World Congress of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, CTBUH, Chicago.
König, G., Zilch, K., and Lappas, G. (1979). “Wind loading of shipyard gantry cranes—Full-scale measurements.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 4(3–4), 429–435.
Lee, S. -J., and Kang, J. -H. (2008). “Wind load on a container crane located in atmospheric boundary layers.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 96(2), 193–208.
Mara, T. G. (2009). “Mean wind loads on a 200m tall building with adjacent tower crane.” Research Rep. No. BLWT-3-2009, Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory, Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
Scarabino, A., Di Leo, J. M., Delnero, J. S., and Bacchi, F. (2005). “Drag coefficients and Strouhal numbers of a port crane boom girder section.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 93(6), 451–460.
Shapiro, H., Shapiro, J. P., and Shapiro, L. K. (1999). “Tower crane installation.” Cranes and derricks, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 351–451.
Tse, K. T., Hitchcock, P. A., Kwok, K. C. S., Thepmongkorn, S., and Chan, C. M. (2009). “Economic perspectives of aerodynamic treatments of square tall buildings.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 97(9–10), 455–467.
Tshanz, T. (1982). “The base balance measurement technique and applications to dynamic wind loading of structures.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
Zdravkovich, M. M. (1981). “Review and classification of various aerodynamic and hydrodynamic means for suppressing vortex shedding.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 7(2), 145–189.
Zhou, Y., Kijewski, T., and Kareem, A. (2003). “Aerodynamic loads on tall buildings: Interactive database.” J. Struct. Eng., 129(3), 394–404.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 25, 2010
Accepted: May 22, 2010
Published online: May 29, 2010
Published in print: Nov 2010
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.