Departments/Research

By Paul Carpenter and Peter Cenek, Opus International Consultants, and Richard Flay, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Auckland

Wind-induced motion

of tall buildings
PHOTO COURTESY OF PAUL CARPENTER.

The wind-induced motion performance of several buildings has been

monitored, helping to produce an equation for use at the design stage
to predict the potential for excessive motion.

MONITORING THE WIND-INDUCED motion of five tall buildings

1 Hz and above 2 Hz due to the way that people notice and respond

in New Zealand has been undertaken over several years as part of

to vibrations.

a research programme to develop an improved methodology for

building design.

Some buildings exceed the limits

This aims to ensure that wind-induced motion of new tall buildings

Some tall buildings in New Zealand substantially exceed these accelera-

remains within acceptable limits and prevent building occupants

tion limits, and that partly prompted the research. These buildings

from experiencing motion sickness.

were avoided, as the aim was to investigate the motion of representa-

Building motion can be reduced at the design stage by increasing

tive modern tall buildings. Those selected ranged between 10 m and

the building density and stiffness and by avoiding slender designs.

28 storeys in height. Four are in Wellington, and one is in Auckland.

However, this conflicts with the aims of designing lightweight flexible

buildings to achieve earthquake resistance.

Design analysis procedures for wind-induced building motion have

previously been largely based on the results of wind tunnel testing.
Getting monitoring data from real buildings provided an opportunity

Limits set in standard

for a much-improved understanding of building motion.

ISO standard 10137:2007 provides guidance for limits on horizontal

accelerations and human response to wind-induced motions in

Motion measured in five buildings

buildings. The ISO limits in the frequency range 12 Hz are annual

One building had predicted annual maximum accelerations at the

maximum horizontal accelerations of 6 milli-g for offices and

centre of the top floor of 9 milli-g, exceeding the ISO limit of 7.5 milli-g

4 milli-g for residences. The limits increase for frequencies below

for this building by about 20%.

78 Build 134 February/March 2013

Predicting building motion

A reasonable prediction of building motion at the design stage is:

a=

0.11V3des, 1-year
f m0

where

a = peak resultant acceleration (m/s2)

Displacement Y (mm)

Vdes, 1-year = 1-year design wind speed at the roof of the building (m/s),
0

which may be calculated using the loading standard AS/NZS 1170.2

-2

structure (kg/m).

f = fundamental frequency (Hz)

m0 = building mass per unit height over the top one-third of the
This equation has been derived by examining building motion and
wind tunnel measurements from the current research and previous

-4

studies. It is a refined version of a similar equation in use for many

years. Note that this equation does not account for:

-6
-6

-4

-2

0
Displacement X (mm)

Figure 1: The largest measured displacement at the centre of the top floor of Building E.

coupled mode effects consequently, it underestimated the motion

for the building that has coupled mode response

effects due to building shape and the influence of adjacent buildings, which can be substantial.

For the study buildings it provided a better prediction than the

method in AS/NZS 1170.2.
The accelerations due to torsion at the top corners of this building
were also unusually large, resulting in combined accelerations at the

Going hypothetical

corners of up to 15 milli-g.

It is instructive to apply this predictive equation to a hypothetical

Building occupants at these corners would be very likely to feel

uncomfortable due to this motion.
The measured X, Y and torsion frequencies for this building were

slender tall lightweight apartment building 100 m tall with:

f = 0.4 Hz
Vdes, 1-year = 40 m/s

all similar (0.65 Hz), indicating that the building experiences coupled

b = 200 kg/m3 (building density)

mode response. Coupled modes should be avoided in building design,

A = 400 m2 (plan area)

where possible, to avoid excessive wind-induced motion.

The other four monitored buildings all experienced wind-induced
motions within the ISO limits.

m0 = 80,000 kg/m
The predicted acceleration is 22 milli-g nearly four times the
limit acceleration for this building of 6.1 milli-g from ISO 10137.
The wind-induced motion of this building would clearly be very

Wind speed and building motion relationship

unsettling for the occupants of the upper floors.

Determining the relationship between wind speed and building

Note that the frequencies that have been used in the calculation

motion was an important aspect of the research and was measured

are the actual 1st mode frequencies for each building. The measured

for three of the five buildings.

frequencies are typically 2030% higher than those estimated in

The average exponent of the power-law fit for the three buildings

structural design calculations. Be aware that use of the design calcula-

was measured to be 3.05, with a range of 5%, i.e. the building motion

tion frequencies is likely to calculate somewhat higher accelerations.

is approximately proportional to wind speed cubed.

This relationship is not intuitive, as wind forces on structures are

Accuracy is critical

typically proportional to wind speed squared. The reason for the

The measured wind-induced accelerations are approximately

approximately cubic relationship is that, as wind speed increases, the

proportional to the cube of the wind speed. Accurate wind speed

building experiences larger and more powerful wind turbulence or gusts

estimates are critical for design predictions of wind-induced building

at frequencies that coincide with the sway frequencies of the building.

motion. A simple predictive equation provides a reasonable indication

It should be noted that the analysis procedure provided in the loading

standard AS/NZS 1170.2 does not properly account for this effect and
therefore underestimates the effects of changes in wind speeds.

in the design stage of potential excessive wind-induced motion.

Note

The research is a collaborative programme involving Opus, University

of Auckland and GNS and has been funded by the Building Research Levy.

Build 134 February/March 2013 79