Wind Direction and Structural Reliability: II

Abstract

Wind data from Weather Bureau Airport Stations (WBAS) at Seattle, Wash, and Baltimore, Md., from 1959 to 1979 are used to verify previous analytical results of the effect of wind direction on structural reliability. The feasibility of theoretical prediction of long‐term direction effects based on shortterm data is also investigated. It is found that the analytical method correctly predicts the mean values of the annual maximum response and gives reliable estimates of the sensitivity of structural response to the change in structural orientation. However, there are large discrepancies in the scatter parameter of the annual maximum response which cannot be fully explained by either the sampling error or the deviation of the actual velocity distribution from a Gaussian model.