This thesis presents an integrated wind-tunnel based building response analysis procedures with an state-of-the-art structural optimization technique for the serviceability design of wind-excited tall buildings....[ Read more ]

This thesis presents an integrated wind-tunnel based building response analysis procedures with an state-of-the-art structural optimization technique for the serviceability design of wind-excited tall buildings.

Since the magnitude of the equivalent static design wind loads received by a building is indeed a function of the building's natural frecuency, a wind load updating procedure based on the High Frequency Force Balance (HFFB) method has been incorporated to the conventional lateral wind drift optimization routines. The feasibility of the proposed methodology has been illustrated by a 45-storey tubular steel framework example. Significant reduction in the base wind shear has been noted, particularly for vortex shedding driven excitation, allowing further savings in the total construction materials, achieved by the stiffness based optimization technique design of tall buildings.

The serviceability occupant comfort of tall buildings has been shown to be effectively tackled by an optimization technique for the lateral stiffness of the building structures. Two problem formulations have been developed: i: To control the wind-induced acceleration by tuning the individual modal frequency to the targeted frequency derived from the frequency dependent occupant comfort criteria; ii To express the wind-induced RMS acceleration explicitly in terms of design variables. The first formulation is found to be effective for the acceleration control of relatively simple symmetric structures while the second formulation can be extended to control the resultant wind-induced RMS acceleration response for the design of wind-excited asymmetric structures, possessing of complex 3D mode shape.