Building Motion in Wind - Proceedings of a Session Sponsored by the Aerodynamics Committee of the Aerospace Division and the Wind Effects Committee of the Structural Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers in Conjunction with the ASCE Convention in Seattle, Washington (Hardcover)

The trend towards higher structural efficiency and hence lower cost has resulted in a generation of lighter and more flexible buildings with a lower inherent capacity for energy dissipation or damping. Unfortunately, these trends have produced structures which are more sensitive to the dynamic action of wind. The emphasis in the design of modern tall buildings has therefore shifted to requirements to control building movements or ""drift"" and to limit wind induced accelerations. The first two papers in this book deal with the action of wind on two important tall buildings. In both cases, the designers relied on wind tunnel model tests for information on wind induced loads and building motions. The design of the Columbia Seafirst Center took advantage of economies possible as a result of wind tunnel studies. Viscoelastic dampers were added to the building, however, to limit its motion and wind induced acceleration. The recorded response of the Allied Bank Plaza during Hurricane Alicia, as described in the second paper, is an extremely important contribution to the understanding of the action of wind on tall buildings. It is the only existing record of the response of a major building under the action of design winds. The third paper discusses a survey of structural damping found in tall buildings. The paper presents typical damping values for steel and concrete buildings, discusses the variability of such estimates and its implication on design. The final papers all deal with damping systems which can be added to tall buildings in order to limit their motion. The use of tuned mass dampers and viscoelastic damping units is discussed and examples are presented to show their practical effectiveness. The viscoelastic dampers used in the Columbia Seafirst Center are described.