Performance-Based Wind Engineering of Tall Buildings Examining Life-Cycle Downtime and Multisource Wind Damage

Abstract

Structural performance against wind hazards is necessary in modern tall building design. In current wind engineering practice, most efforts focus on structural safety, such as the avoidance of large deformations. Besides structural safety, other wind-induced inconveniences, such as downtime caused by loss of operability after a major wind event, have rarely been investigated. Furthermore, discomfort to occupants is often caused by less intense but more frequent winds. Consequently, the current wind load and design approach, predominantly based on extreme wind events, is not sufficient. This paper proposes a simulation framework for life-cycle downtime analysis of tall buildings. The approach combines three typical wind-induced inconveniences: occupants’ discomfort, failure of key equipment, and nonstructural damages on the facade, which can lead to whole or partial loss of building functionality and, in turn, downtime. They are classified into two categories: frequent wind hazard inducing disturbance and extreme wind hazards causing damage. In the latter, both parent wind speed distribution and extreme wind distribution are found from data analysis, enabling evaluation of hazard occurrence probability. This study culminates with the estimation of a tall building’s life-cycle downtime through year-by-year downtime accumulation. The result will be used to determine an optimal building orientation because wind directionality effect is not negligible in a typical local climate.