Practical Approach to Digitally Simulate Nonsynoptic Wind Velocity Profiles and Its Implications on the Response of Monopole Towers
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 1
Abstract
In the numerical simulation of stochastic nonstationary wind loads, rapidly varying wind speed fluctuations about a deterministic mean value typically represent the sole source of random variability. Adopted in deterministic-stochastic methods, this assumption may not fully capture the aleatory nature of a hazard, especially for nonsynoptic outflows such as intense thunderstorms or microbursts with noticeable nose-like mean wind velocity profiles that vary with each occurrence. Such profiles depart from the theory of atmospheric boundary layers. To introduce additional randomness in the digital simulation of these nonsynoptic wind fields and loads, a numerical procedure was developed in this study to generate unique realizations of analytical functions that describe changes in mean wind velocities with elevation. The utility of the proposed procedure for performance-based wind engineering (PBWE) is demonstrated for the fragility analysis of two monopole towers subjected to loads from nonsynoptic thunderstorm outflows.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This study was based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States under Grant No. CMMI-1434880. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 1 • January 2022
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 7, 2020
Accepted: Aug 31, 2021
Published online: Oct 26, 2021
Published in print: Jan 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Mar 26, 2022
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