Dynamic Response of Tall Buildings to Stochastic Wind Load

A random vibration‐based procedure is used to estimate the dynamic responses of symmetric tall buildings (coincident centers of mass, rigidity, and geometry) subjected to the effects of wind. The along‐wind, across‐wind, and torsional components of wind force were obtained from a time‐series analysis of surface pressures measured during a wind‐tunnel test of a rigid model. The structural response analysis takes the statistical correlation among these three components of aerodynamic force into account. The contributions of the first and second translational and torsional modes to the response are investigated. The across‐wind and torsional accelerations are the major contributors to building acceleration. A simple approach is developed for evaluating the response statistics that are important for building serviceability. This approach can be used in the preliminary design stage to assess the possibility of unserviceability and the need for more detailed and expensive wind‐tunnel model tests.