Comparative Study of the Wind Characteristics of a Strong Wind Event Based on Stationary and Nonstationary Models
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 5
Abstract
Inherent time-varying trends of wind records are frequently captured in recent field measurements of tropical cyclones. These observations indicate a nonstationary process that deviates from the traditional stationary assumption. In this study, a strong wind event from a landfall typhoon recorded at Sutong Bridge site (Jiangsu Province, China) in 2008 is selected for the investigation of stationary and nonstationary wind characteristics. Since the extraction of the underlying trend is usually determined by experience, a self-adaptive method is presented to automatically isolate the time-varying mean based on the signal stationarity. Once the trend is removed, the residual turbulence will naturally be stationary. Accordingly, two categories of fluctuating wind speeds are then obtained by subtracting constant or time-varying means from original wind samples. Based on the traditional stationary model and two recent nonstationary models, stationary and nonstationary turbulent wind characteristics, e.g., turbulence intensity, gust factor, peak factor, turbulence integral scale, and power spectral density (PSD), are comparatively investigated and compared with the recommendations from relevant building codes and standards. The results highlight the importance of the nonstationary considerations. In addition, the evolutionary power spectral density (EPSD) of fluctuating wind is discussed to examine the short-term stationary assumption in the calculation of time-frequency turbulence spectrum. A general empirical EPSD is derived and demonstrated effective and efficient in engineering applications.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the supports from the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (Grant No. 2015CB060000), the National Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51378111 and 51438002), the project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (No. CE02-2-15) and the NSF Grant # CMMI 15-37431. The authors also thank the Construction Commanding Department of Jiangsu Provincial Yangtze River Highway Bridge for providing fruitful information and convenient conditions during field measurement.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 5 • May 2017
Copyright
©2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 23, 2016
Accepted: Oct 14, 2016
Published online: Dec 8, 2016
Published in print: May 1, 2017
Discussion open until: May 8, 2017
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