ESDU Wind Engineering Series

Damage by the wind can be extreme. The Wind Engineering Series provides reliable methods and data for predicting the loads on, and the response of, buildings and structures to the wind. In order to do this the information includes methods and a computer program for estimating design wind speeds and turbulence properties for all types of terrain including topographic effects on wind speed.

Comprehensive prediction procedures are provided for estimating force and pressure coefficients for structures such as stacks, masts, towers (including those with polygonal sections), lattice structures, beams, plates, boundary walls, aerials and regular building shapes. Particular attention has been afforded (where appropriate) to surface roughness effects and high Reynolds number applications. These data are required for estimating both the mean loading and the fluctuating loading due to turbulence in the wind.

Methods and computer programs are included for predicting dynamic effects associated with the oscillation of a structure induced by wind effects (such as buffeting by turbulence, vortex shedding and galloping) close to one, or more, of the structure's natural frequencies of vibration. Guidance is also given on the interaction effects of closely-spaced circular cross-section structures.

Methods for obtaining the natural vibration characteristics of frame, shear and sway buildings, needed for the prediction of their response to wind or earthquake, are given in simple procedures or computer programs, and a method of estimating the damping of buildings is included.