Computers and Structures 85 (2007) 1165–1176

www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruc

Effects of amplitude-dependent damping and time constant

on wind-induced responses of super tall building
a,b
J.R. Wu , P.F. Liu b, Q.S. Li b,*

a
Department of Civil Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
b
Department of Building and Construction, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Received 10 January 2007; accepted 11 January 2007

Available online 6 March 2007

Abstract

Full-scale measurements of wind-induced responses of a 79-story tall building, Di Wang Tower, were conducted during the passages
of several typhoons. The amplitude-dependent damping ratios of the super tall building were obtained from the measurements. A Monte
Carlo simulation procedure was developed in this study to generate fluctuating along-wind and across-wind forces acting on this build-
ing. The wind-induced responses of Di Wang Tower were numerically evaluated in time domain on the basis of the generated fluctuating
wind forces and the established finite element model of the building. The predicted dynamic responses of the building using the actual
amplitude-dependent damping characteristics were compared to those computed with constant damping parameters assumed by the
structural designers to evaluate the adequacy of current design practices and to investigate the effect of amplitude-dependent damping
on the wind-induced responses. Finally, the effect of time constant on the wind-induced responses of Di Wang Tower was studied by
comparing the time domain computational results with those from conventional spectral analysis method. Some of the research findings
resulted from this combined experimental and numerical study are expected to be of interest and practical use to professionals and
researchers involved in the design and analysis of super tall buildings.
 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Tall building; Damping; Wind effect; Typhoon; Dynamic response; Full-scale measurement

1. Introduction (transverse) are 68.55 m and 35.5 m, respectively. There-

Di Wang Tower is located at northwest of downtown
Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, including 68-
storey main office tower, plus 11-storey facility and refuge
floors as well as top tower structures, as shown in Fig. 1a.
Total, the main structure of the tall building is 79-story
and is about 325 m high from ground level. There are two
masts with 59 m high erected on the roof of the tower.
The height from the ground to the top of the masts is about
384 m. Di Wang Tower was the tallest building in Mainland
China when it was built several years ago. The lengths of the
main building in X-direction (longitudinal) and Y-direction
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +852 27844677; fax: +852 27887612.
E-mail address: bcqsli@cityu.edi.hk (Q.S. Li).
fore, the aspect ratio between height and transverse width
is about 9, which means that it largely exceeds the relevant
criteria laid down in the current design codes and standards
in China. This implies that this tall building is a slender
structure. As Shenzhen is located at the edge of the most
active typhoon generating area in the world, this super tall
building may be susceptible to severe vibration induced by
typhoons. Therefore, there is a need for investigating its
dynamic performance under typhoon conditions.
Natural frequencies and damping ratios are very impor-
tant parameters which affect the dynamic response of struc-
tures under dynamic actions such as wind or earthquake
excitation. The natural frequencies can be conveniently
determined from conventional methods with reasonable
accuracy. However, it is very difficult or impossible to
determine structural damping ratio accurately prior to

0045-7949/$ - see front matter  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compstruc.2007.01.012
1166 J.R. Wu et al. / Computers and Structures 85 (2007) 1165–1176
Fig. 1a. Overview of Di Wang Tower.
construction. Structural damping ratio is usually assumed
to be constant value at design stage. However, the actual
damping ratio is found to be a nonlinear parameter with
amplitude-dependent property [9,28,12,13,17–19]. Little
work has been done to examine and validate the assump-
tions made on structural damping of tall buildings. Over
the last three decades, significant measurements of struc-
tural damping have been made throughout the world
[9,28,23]. However, the majority of the previous measure-
ments were made for buildings with 10–50 stories. There
is a serious scarcity of damping data measured from super
tall buildings (building height > 300 m), especially under
strong wind excitations. Therefore, there is a pressing need
to collect such a database.
Wind-induced responses of a tall building can be esti-
mated in time domain [30,20,11] or frequency domain
[5,22]. The damping ratio is usually treated as a determin-
istic value in dynamic analysis either in time domain or fre-
quency domain. Li et al. [14] presented the first study in
wind engineering to investigate the effects of amplitude-
dependent damping on wind-induced vibration of a tall
building in Hong Kong. However, in their study, the
damping measurements were made under moderate
typhoon conditions and the tall building was simplified as
a five lumped mass system in the dynamic analysis. Obvi-
ously, it would be more meaningful to investigate such
effects under larger vibration amplitude levels and a tall
building should be modeled as a 3D multi-degree of free-
dom system. Therefore, further comprehensive studies are
required on this research topic.
In this study, the damping database was accumulated
from field measurements of wind effects on Di Wang Tower
during the passages of Typhoons Sally, York, Imbudo,
Dujuan and Compass. It was reported by the Hong Kong
Observatory that Typhoon York was the strongest
typhoon to hit Hong Kong and Shenzhen since 1983 and
Typhoon Dujuan was the strongest typhoon to attack the
Pearl River Delta region since 1979. This thus allowed us
to obtain the damping data from the super tall building
under severe vibration amplitudes induced by the strong
typhoons, which provides a basis for further study on the
effects of amplitude-dependent damping on the dynamic
responses of the building.
The product of the natural frequency and damping
ratio, which is related with time constant of a structure,
indicates how long the structure takes to response to an
action [10]. When a time constant becomes large then the
response of a structure to wind action may be delayed.
The reduction factor of root mean square (RMS) displace-
ment response of a structure with long time constant can be
as high as 20% compared with the results from conven-
tional spectral analysis method [10]. The effect of time con-
stant on the reduction of dynamic response of a tall
building was studied by Jeary [10]. However, the structural
system of the building was simplified as a single degree of
freedom system and only a linear sway mode was consid-
ered in his study. As discussed previously, it is desirable
to model a tall building as a multi-degree of freedom sys-
tem and include more numbers of modes in the dynamic
analysis for investigating the time constant effect on the
dynamic responses of tall buildings.
This study, taking Di Wang Tower as an example, will
address two important issues in dynamic analysis of tall
buildings: the effects of amplitude-dependent damping
and time constant on the wind-induced dynamics response
of super tall building. First of all, the amplitude-dependent
damping ratios are obtained on the basis of the full scale
measurements of wind-induced vibrations of Di Wang
Tower during several typhoons. Then an empirical ampli-
tude-dependent damping model is established from the
accumulated damping data. At the second stage, the time
histories of fluctuating along-wind and across-wind forces
are generated by the Monte Carlo simulation procedure
developed from the weighted amplitude wave superposition
 J.R. Wu et al. / Computers and Structures 85 (2007) 1165–1176
(WAWS) method [24,6]. The finite element model of the
building is established for the purpose of conducting the
dynamic analysis of the building. The along-wind and
across-wind responses of this building are numerically
evaluated in time domain and the effects of amplitude-
dependent damping on the wind-induced responses are
investigated through comparison between the results pre-
dicted using the actual amplitude-dependent damping char-
acteristics and those computed by using constant damping
parameters assumed by the structural designers. Finally,
the effect of time constant on the along-wind response of
the building is studied by comparing the time domain com-
putational results with those from conventional spectral
analysis method. The objective of this combined experi-
mental and numerical study is to further the understanding
of the effects of amplitude-dependent damping and time
constant on the wind-induced dynamic responses in order
to evaluate the adequacy of current design practices and
to apply that knowledge to the structural design of super
tall buildings.
2. Structural system of Di Wang Tower
The structural system of Di Wang Tower utilises both
steel and reinforced concrete (SRC), including core wall
systems and perimeter steel frame coupled by outrigger
trusses at four levels (second, 22nd, 41st and 66th floors).
Besides this, two rows of the vertical bracing are arranged
along the building height. The box-type steel columns at
Fig. 1b. Plan of a standard floor, location of the accelerometers and
definitions of wind attack angle.
1167
outer frame are filled with C45 concrete to increase the col-
umn stiffness. The basic plan form of the tower is essen-
tially rectangular with two semi-circle of 12.5 m radius on
two sides, as shown in Fig. 1b. Detailed descriptions of
the structural system of this tall building are given in Li
and Wu [15].
3. Field measurements of amplitude-dependent damping
Full-scale measurements of wind effects on Di Wang
Tower were conducted by Li et al. [16] during the passage
of Typhoon Sally in September, 1996. Xu et al. [32] carried
out the field measurements of the wind-induced responses
of the tall building during a strong typhoon (Typhoon
York) on 16 September 1999. Continuous efforts have been
made by the authors to monitor the typhoons effects on
this super tall building since 2002, including the measure-
ments made during the passages of Typhoons Imbudo
and Dujuan in 2003 [31] and Typhoon Compass in 2004.
These field measurements all involved at least two acceler-
ometers installed at the 68th floor of the main tower along
X- and Y-direction to measure the acceleration responses
of the building, as shown in Fig. 1b. Significant field data
have been recorded over the last several years. The ampli-
tude-dependent damping ratios of the building were deter-
mined by the random decrement technique based on the
measured acceleration response data. With the accumu-
lated measurement results and damping data, an empirical
model of amplitude-dependent damping will be proposed
in this paper.
According to a damping model developed by Li et al.
[12,13] for tall buildings, it includes two parts: (1) in low
amplitude region: the damping ratio is determined as a
nonlinear function of amplitude of vibration response
within a certain range; (2) in high amplitude plateau: the
damping ratio is a constant when the amplitude of vibra-
tion response is in a higher level. As the damping character-
istics of the tall building are known from the field
measurements (see Figs. 2–5) made in Typhoon Sally
[16], Typhoon York [32] and from our recent results mea-
sured in Typhoons Imbudo, Dujuan and Compass, the
amplitude-dependent damping ratios are modeled below:
(
3:1  104 x þ 0:0043 0 6 x 6 82:90 mm
nNLY1 ¼ ð1Þ
3% 82:90 mm < x
-3
x 10
10 y=0.00031*x+0.0043
Damping ratio
8
York
Sally
6 Dujuan
Imbudo
4 Fitted
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Amplitude (mm)
Fig. 2. The measured damping data for the first mode in Y-direction.
1168 J.R. Wu et al. / Computers and Structures 85 (2007) 1165–1176

x 10
-3
and shown in these figures comprise both structural damp-
7
y=0.000055*x+0.00499
ing and aerodynamic damping. For a steel-concrete com-
Damping ratio

6 posite structure such as Di Wang Tower, a constant of

York
5 Sally damping value of 2–3% is widely adopted in its structural
Compass
4 Dujuan design according to many current design codes and stan-
Imbudo
Fitted dards. Therefore, the upper plateau defined in the proposed
3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 damping model is taken as a constant value of 0.03.
Amplitude (mm)

Fig. 3. The measured damping data for the second mode in Y-direction. 4. Generation of fluctuating wind forces on the building

-3
x 10 The simulation of stochastic variables with arbitrary
10
power spectral representation has been studied extensively.
y=0.00088153*x+0.004293
Shinozuka and Jan [24], Shinozuka [25] developed efficient
Damping ratio

8
York
6
Sally
Compass
methods for digital simulation for one-dimensional multi-
Dujuan variable stochastic process by a series of cosine functions
4 Imbudo
Fitted with weighted amplitude, almost evenly spaced frequencies
2 and random phase angles. This method, also termed as
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Amplitude (mm) weighted amplitude wave superposition (WAWS) method
Fig. 4. The measured damping data for the first mode in X-direction. [6], has an attractive feature that fast Fourier transform
(FFT) can be adopted in the simulation procedure. It has
been widely used for generating multi-variate random vari-
-3

10
x 10 ables with specific spectral representation. Therefore, it is
y=0.00088153*x+0.004293
adopted in this study to generate the fluctuating along-
Damping ratio

8
York wind and across-wind forces acting on Di Wang Tower.
Sally
6 Compass
Dujuan
4 Imbudo
Fitted
4.1. Simulation of along-wind fluctuating wind forces
2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Amplitude (mm) Based on the established 3D finite element (FE) model
of Di Wang Tower, the lateral condensed stiffness and mass
Fig. 5. The measured damping data for the second mode in X-direction.
matrices in X- and Y-directions for this building are formed
( for the analysis of wind-induced dynamic responses. In
0:55  104 x þ 0:00499 0 6 x 6 454:72 mm each direction, the structural system of this 79-storey tall
nNLY2 ¼ building can be considered to be an equivalent cantilever
3% 454:72 mm < x
structure with 79 lumped masses. The spectral density of
ð2Þ the fluctuating along-wind drag force on each lumped mass
(
8:81  104 x þ 0:004293 0 6 x 6 29:16 mm can be expressed as follows:
nNLX1 ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
3% 29:16 mm < x 2
S FDij ðzi ; zj ; f Þ ¼ ðqC D Þ Azi Azj V zi V zj S V ðzi ; f ÞS V ðzj ; f Þ
ð3Þ
(  Cohðzi ; zj ; f Þ ð5Þ
4
8:57  10 x þ 0:0043 0 6 x 6 29:97 mm
nNLX2 ¼ ð4Þ where q is the air density, CD is the drag coefficient. Azi, Vzi
3% 29:97 mm < x
are tributary area and mean wind speed at height zi, respec-
tively. SV (zi, f ) is the auto-power spectral density of the
where nNLX1 is amplitude-dependent damping ratio for the along-wind fluctuating wind speed, which is represented
first vibration mode in X-direction, the other three param- by the widely-used von-Karman spectrum with the follow-
eters nNLX2, nNLY1, nNLY2 are defined in the similar way. It ing form [26]:
was shown from Eqs. (1)–(4) that the damping ratios in X-
direction are normally larger than those in Y-direction at fS V ðzi ; f Þ 4 fL V
V zi
¼  2 5=6 ð6Þ
the same vibration amplitude level and the damping ratio r2V zi
for the second vibration mode in Y-direction is found to 1 þ 70:8 f LV zi
V

increases more slowly with increasing amplitude.

The obtained damping ratio curves (damping ratio (%) where rV zi and LV are the RMS value of fluctuating wind
against response amplitude) shown in Figs. 2–5 clearly speed and turbulence integral length scale at height zi,
demonstrates amplitude-dependent energy dissipation respectively. The coherence function Coh(zi, zj, f) of fluctu-
characteristics of the building, ie., damping increases with ating wind speed is represented by the following equation
increasing amplitude. The values of damping estimated [30]:
 J.R. Wu et al. / Computers and Structures 85 (2007) 1165–1176 1169
 
Dz height; (2) there is a lack of information on correlations
Cohðzi ; zj ; f Þ ¼ exp 8  f  ð7Þ
V between across-wind dynamic loads at different building
V þV
heights; (3) the fundamental mode shape of a tall building
where Dz = jzi  zjj and V ¼ zi 2 zj . Normally the equation is assumed to be linear. Another available way to establish
SFDij(zi, zj, f) = SFDji(zj, zi, f) is always satisfied. Thus, it im- the empirical formulas is to make simultaneous pressure
plies that SFD is a real symmetric matrix. The Choleskey measurements from rigid model surfaces, which can not
decomposition to the real symmetric matrix SFD can be only determine the integral fluctuating wind forces on a
thus performed by the following form: SFD = HHT. The building model but also provide information on the spatial
simulated fluctuating along-wind load on the ith lumped and temporal distributions of wind loads over the surfaces
mass can be expressed in the following equation [24,25]: of the building. It is thus decided to adopt the empirical
i X
X N pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi spectral models [21] established from pressure measure-
F D ðzi ; tÞ ¼ jH ij ðzi ; zj ; xk Þj 2Dxk ½cosðxk t þ wjk Þ; ments on rigid models as the target spectral representation
j¼1 k¼1 for generating fluctuating across-wind forces acting on Di
i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; M ð8Þ Wang Tower. The co-spectral density for the fluctuating
across-wind forces along the building height is expressed as
where Dxk is frequency interval, M is the number of  2 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
lumped masses representing that of the floors of the build- 1
S fy ðzi ; zj ; f Þ ¼ qC L Azi Azj V 2zi V 2zj fy ðzi ; f Þfy ðzj ; f Þ
ing, N is the number of frequency intervals, xk = 2
(k  1)Dxk and wjk is independent random phase angle uni-  Cohðzi ; zj ; f Þ ð9Þ
formly distributed between 0 and 2p. Hij(zi, zj, xk) is the
corresponding entry in Choleskey decomposed matrix H. where CL is the RMS lift coefficient, Azi, Azj are the areas
According to the suggestion given by Holmes [8], the equiv- corresponding to the ith and jth lumped mass and
S ðz ;f Þ
alent full-scale upper frequency response limit for wind- fy ðzi ; f Þ ¼ 1 fy2 i 2 is the normalized power spectral den-
induced pressure measurements should not be less than ð2qV zi CL BÞ
2 Hz. Therefore, for generating wind loads by Eq. (8), the sity of the fluctuating across-wind force at height zi, which
cut-off upper circular frequency is selected to be 4p rad/s can be represented by the following equations [21]:
and the number of frequency intervals is taken to be 512, fS fy ðzi ; f Þ n2
H ðC 1 Þ C 0:5
2  n2
and the time-step for the wind loading simulation is 0.05 s. ¼ A  þ ð1  AÞ 
r2 n2 Þ2 þ C 1 
ð1   n2 1:56½ð1  n2 Þ2 þ 2
n2 
1
for 6 D=B < 3 ð10Þ
4.2. Simulation of fluctuating across-wind forces 4

0:5 n 3
fS fy ðzi ; f Þ n2
1:275   C
It is well known that the mechanisms of across-wind 2
¼A 2
þ ð1  AÞ   2 k

r n2 Þ þ C 1 
ð1   n2 n2
2
C 2 n2
dynamic loads on tall buildings are much more complex 1:56 1  k2 þ k2
than those of along-wind dynamic loads. It has been recog- for 3 6 D=B 6 4 ð11Þ
nized [22] that across-wind dynamic loads on tall buildings
are induced by three major mechanisms: along-wind turbu- The normalized coherence function Coh(zi, zj, f) for the
lence, across-wind turbulence and wake excitation, with fluctuating across-wind forces has the following form:
wake excitation being the main contributor. However, "  #
2
due to non-homogeneous pressure fluctuations in sepa- D jzi  zj j
Cohðzi ; zj ; f Þ ¼ cosða1 DÞ exp  ; D¼
rated and wake regions, it is very difficult to establish an a2 B
analytic model for estimation of across-wind dynamic ð12Þ
loads on tall buildings. Therefore, strictly speaking, accu-
rate analytical calculation methods to evaluate across-wind All the parameters involved in Eqs. (10)–(12) are given in
dynamic responses of tall buildings are not available in Liang et al. [21]. Once the target power spectral density is
literatures, while several procedures, e.g., gust factor determined, the fluctuating across-wind forces acting on
approach [5], have been developed for predicting loads each lumped mass of the building can be generated by the
and response in along-wind direction. Wind tunnel tests same simulation procedure as described in the last section.
are usually needed to evaluate the across-wind loads on tall
buildings. Based on numerous wind tunnel tests for rectan- 5. Time history dynamics analysis of the wind-induced
gular tall building models with different aspect and side response of Di Wang Tower
ratios, several empirical formulas for the estimation of
power spectral density of fluctuating across-wind force The equation of motion of this building in X- or Y-direc-
were proposed by previous researchers based on the mea- tion can be expressed in the following equation:
surements of across-wind loads by the high frequency force
½Mf€y g þ ½Cfy_ g þ ½Kfyg ¼ fFðtÞg ð13Þ
balance technique [1,3,27]. However, such a technique may
have three shortcomings: (1) there is no information on where [M], [C] and [K] are the 79 · 79 order mass, damping
variations of across-wind dynamic loads along building and lateral condensed stiffness matrices of the structural
1170 J.R. Wu et al. / Computers and Structures 85 (2007) 1165–1176

system in X- or Y-direction. f€y g and {F(t)} are vectors of
acceleration response and fluctuating wind force, respec-
tively. The damping matrix of the building was determined
based on the Rayleigh damping model [4], in which the
damping matrix is assumed to be proportional to the mass
and stiffness matrices of the structural system, i.e.
½C ¼ a½M þ b½K
where a, b are the proportional constants related to the dy-
namic properties of the structure, which can be determined
from the damping ratios n1, n2 and natural frequencies x1,
x2 of the first two vibration modes, respectively [4]. Since
Eq. (13) is a nonlinear equation owing to the amplitude-
dependent matrix C or f, for obtaining the time domain
solution of Eq. (13) the step-by-step Newmark integration
method [4,29] is used in this study. Iteration algorithms are
needed to consider the amplitude-dependent damping effect
on the dynamic responses.
The time history analysis for the wind-induced response
of this building in X- and Y-direction was conducted with
consideration of different mean wind speeds atop the build-
ing. The building was assumed to be an isolated building
results of the wind-induced responses are presented and dis-
cussed in the following sections.
5.1. The along-wind responses (in X-direction) under
different load cases
ð14Þ The time histories of the along-wind acceleration and
displacement responses at the top floor of the building
are shown in Figs. 6 and 7 with consideration of several
constant damping ratios and the proposed amplitude-
dependent damping model when the mean wind speed atop
the building is 15 m/s. The wind-induced responses during
the first 3-min are shown in these figures for demonstration
purposes. It can be seen from these figures that the wind-
induced responses based on the proposed amplitude-depen-
dent damping model are greater than those for the cases of
constant damping ratios 1% and 3%. The RMS and maxi-
Acceleration for constant damping ratio 1.0%
0.8
Acceleration for amplitude-dependent damping ratio
0.6
0.4
Acceleration (gal)

located in Terrain type D as specified in the design load

code of China (GBJ 9-87) [2]. The empirical amplitude- 0.2
dependent model proposed in this study for Di Wang
0
Tower was adopted in the computation. Meanwhile, con-
stant damping ratios of 1%, 2% and 3% (such as what were -0.2

assumed by the structural designers in the design stage of -0.4

this building) were also considered in this study. Therefore,
comparisons will be made between the responses predicted -0.6

by using the measured actual damping characteristics and 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Time (s)
those computed by using the constant values of damping
to examine the effect of amplitude-dependent damping on Fig. 6. Along-wind acceleration in X-direction atop the building (mean
the dynamic responses of this super tall building. According wind speed = 15 m/s).
to the design code of China (GBJ 9-87) [2] and Li et al. [17],
the design mean wind speeds corresponding to different
Acceleration for constant damping ratio 3.0%
return periods (year) atop Di Wang Tower were deter- 0.8
Acceleration for amplitude-dependent damping ratio
mined, as shown in Table 1. The wind-induced responses 0.6
of this building were evaluated when the mean wind speeds
atop the building were 15 m/s, 27 m/s, 32 m/s, 37 m/s and 0.4
Acceleration (gal)

48 m/s, respectively, and the wind action was assumed to 0.2

be perpendicular to one side of the building. The mean wind
0
speeds of 27 m/s, 32 m/s, 37 m/s and 48 m/s atop the Di
Wang Tower are approximately corresponding to the -0.2
design wind speeds with 5-year, 10-year, 25-year and 100-
-0.4
year return periods, respectively. The time-step was selected
as 0.05 s and total time duration for the step-by-step -0.6
dynamic analysis was 10 min. In order to examine the time 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
domain computational results, the wind-induced responses Time (s)

of this building were also calculated in frequency domain Fig. 7. Along-wind acceleration in X-direction atop the building (mean
under the same load cases for comparison purposes. The wind speed = 15 m/s).

Table 1
Design wind speeds atop Di Wang Tower corresponding to different return periods
Return period (Year) 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 100
Wind speed (m/s) 27.72 31.96 36.19 38.50 40.42 41.58 42.74 45.80
 J.R. Wu et al. / Computers and Structures 85 (2007) 1165–1176 1171

Table 2
Along-wind responses of Di Wang Tower in X-direction
Wind speed Damping Results from the time domain analysis Results from the frequency domain
(m/s) ratio analysis
Displacement (mm) Acceleration (gal)
RMS Maximum Peak RMS Maximum Peak RMS of RMS of
value value factor value Value factor displacement (mm) acceleration (gal)
15 NL 2.32 6.62 2.85 0.24 0.70 2.91
1% 1.95 5.69 2.91 0.18 0.57 3.17 2.23 0.20
2% 1.70 4.75 2.79 0.12 0.38 3.17 2.01 0.14
3% 1.63 4.45 2.73 0.10 0.31 3.10 1.94 0.12
27 NL 6.72 19.32 2.88 0.73 2.39 3.27
1% 6.43 18.49 2.87 0.69 2.26 3.27 7.39 0.75
2% 5.34 15.01 2.81 0.49 1.61 3.29 6.14 0.59
3% 4.98 13.25 2.67 0.41 1.29 3.15 5.43 0.44
32 NL 11.04 29.50 2.67 1.22 3.31 2.71
1% 11.59 31.42 2.71 1.31 3.77 2.88 14.5 1.64
2% 9.04 25.17 2.78 0.91 2.53 2.78 11.38 1.16
3% 8.19 23.34 2.84 0.73 2.04 2.79 10.10 0.90
37 NL 15.52 39.79 2.56 1.31 3.55 2.71
1% 15.76 43.29 2.75 1.38 3.88 2.81 17.96 1.73
2% 15.13 38.60 2.55 1.21 3.46 2.86 16.80 1.28
3% 14.80 37.10 2.50 1.10 3.40 2.72 15.40 1.13
48 NL 24.11 68.29 2.83 2.39 6.57 2.74
1% 27.20 71.65 2.63 2.93 7.82 2.67 32.08 3.26
2% 23.72 68.91 2.90 2.31 6.71 2.90 26.73 2.58
3% 22.52 59.31 2.63 1.98 5.68 2.87 24.28 2.13
Note: NL – from the proposed amplitude-dependent damping model.

mum responses of the along-wind responses of this tower
under other load cases are listed in Table 2. It is found that
the results obtained from the frequency-domain analysis
are generally slightly greater than those from the time
domain method, which is considered to be reasonable
due to existence of time constant effects on the dynamic
responses, which will be discussed later. This implies that
the time-domain analysis method developed in this study
is reliable. The peak factor values determined from the
time-domain analysis are normally between 2.7 and 3.3,
as shown in Table 2, which are smaller than the gener-
ally adopted value of 3.5 in wind engineering practices.
The results listed in Table 2 clearly demonstrate the
effect of amplitude-dependent damping on the along-wind
responses of the building under different mean wind speeds.
It is found that except several cases corresponding to
time history acceleration and displacement responses at
the top floor of the building are shown in Figs. 8 and 9
for the case of the mean wind speed atop the building as
15 m/s. Comparing the results shown in Figs. 6 and 8, it
seems that the difference between the results from the
amplitude-dependent damping model and those from the
assumed constant damping ratio of 1% is relatively small.
The RMS and maximum responses of the along-wind
responses of this building in Y-direction under other load
cases are listed in Table 3. The peak factor values shown
in Table 3 are in the range of 2.5–3.6. Comparing these
results with those in Table 2, it is found that the along-wind
1 Acceleration for constant damping ratio 1.0%
Acceleration for amplitude-dependent damping ratio
0.8

damping ratio f = 1%, the results for the constant damping 0.6
ratios are smaller than those predicted from the amplitude-
Acceleration (gal)

0.4
dependent damping model. This implies that the design
0.2
damping levels for the tall building, which were determined
0
based on current design structural design codes; appear too
high and not conservative to estimate the wind-induced -0.2

response of the building. -0.4

-0.6

5.2. The along-wind responses (in Y-direction) under -0.8

different load cases 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Time (s)

The along-wind responses in Y-direction were also Fig. 8. Along-wind acceleration in Y-direction atop the building (mean
numerically estimated by the time domain method. The wind speed = 15 m/s).
1172 J.R. Wu et al. / Computers and Structures 85 (2007) 1165–1176

1 Acceleration for constant damping ratio 3.0%

than 1% in X- and Y-direction when the mean wind speed
Acceleration for amplitude-dependent damping ratio atop the building is 27 m/s which is corresponding to the
0.8
design wind speed with 5-year return period, and their val-
0.6 ues are about 2% when the mean wind speed atop the
building is 48 m/s which is equivalent to the design wind
Acceleration (gal)

0.4

0.2 speed with 100-year return period. However, the damping

ratios rarely reach 3% under all the load cases considered
0
in this study.
-0.2

-0.4

-0.6
-0.8
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (s)
Fig. 9. Along-wind acceleration in Y-direction atop the building (mean
wind speed = 15 m/s).
responses in Y-direction are much greater than those in X-
direction. This is due to the fact that the lateral stiffness of
the building in Y-direction is relatively weak so that it is
more sensitive to wind excitation.
Wind-induced response of a tall building is usually dom-
inated by its fundamental vibration mode. The full-scale
measurements indicated that the actual damping ratios of
the fundamental vibration mode of this building in X-direc-
tion and Y-direction all increase with the mean wind speed
and the wind-induced responses. Comparison of the
responses presented in Tables 2 and 3 reveals that the
actual damping ratios of the fundamental modes are less
5.3. Evaluation of the across-wind response (in X-direction)
When the building vibrates in along-wind direction (e.g.,
120 140 160 180
in Y-direction), its across-wind vibration also occurs simul-
taneously (in X-direction). In this section, the time history
across-wind responses in X-direction were calculated by the
similar method as that described in Section 5.2. The time
history acceleration and displacement responses at the
top floor of the building are shown in Figs. 10 and 11 for
the case of the mean wind speed atop the building as
27 m/s. The RMS and maximum values of the across-wind
response in X-direction under other load cases are listed in
Table 4. It can be seen from this table that the peak factor
is also generally between 2.7 and 3.6. Comparing the results
with those presented in Tables 2 and 3, it is found that the
across-wind responses in X-direction are greater than the
along-wind responses in X-direction and are smaller than
the along-wind responses in Y-direction for the same
wind speed actions. This clearly demonstrates that the
across-wind responses are comparable to the along-wind

Table 3
Along-wind responses of Di Wang Tower in Y-direction
Wind speed Damping Results from the time domain analysis Results from the frequency domain
(m/s) ratio Displacement (mm) Acceleration (gal) analysis

RMS Maximum Peak RMS Maximum Peak RMS of RMS of

value value factor value value factor displacement (mm) acceleration (gal)
15 NL 4.65 13.26 2.85 0.38 1.17 3.07
1% 4.28 13.20 3.08 0.31 0.97 3.12 4.85 0.39
2% 3.97 13.00 3.27 0.24 0.75 3.13 4.08 0.28
3% 3.79 12.29 3.24 0.20 0.66 3.30 3.89 0.22
27 NL 25.17 67.58 2.68 2.49 6.83 2.74
1% 24.18 66.90 2.76 2.34 6.15 2.62 25.30 2.01
2% 18.57 48.89 2.63 1.61 4.57 2.83 20.62 1.41
3% 16.12 41.49 2.57 1.26 3.68 2.92 18.78 1.15
32 NL 30.38 93.33 3.07 2.76 9.30 3.36
1% 31.00 95.59 3.08 2.76 9.24 3.34 38.90 3.19
2% 26.74 85.17 3.18 2.06 7.32 3.55 31.10 2.25
3% 24.61 77.69 3.16 1.70 6.18 3.63 28.06 1.83
37 NL 41.10 104.40 2.54 3.40 9.70 2.85
1% 41.72 107.40 2.57 3.32 9.40 2.81 45.83 3.62
2% 39.20 99.09 2.53 2.77 6.97 2.51 38.80 3.06
3% 36.40 89.70 2.46 2.27 5.85 2.57 35.5 2.64
48 NL 67.41 197.30 2.93 6.64 22.05 3.32
1% 85.18 248.14 2.91 8.60 28.25 3.29 97.9 9.57
2% 65.49 195.94 2.99 6.02 19.38 3.22 72.7 6.77
3% 56.72 170.10 3.01 4.81 15.29 3.19 62.83 5.51
Note: NL – from the proposed amplitude-dependent damping model.
 J.R. Wu et al. / Computers and Structures 85 (2007) 1165–1176 1173

2.5 2.5
Acceleration for constant damping ratio 1.0% Acceleration for constant damping ratio 3.0%
2 Acceleration for amplitude-dependent damping ratio 2 Acceleration for amplitude-dependent damping ratio

1.5 1.5

1 1
Acceleration (gal)

Acceleration (gal)
0.5 0.5

0 0

-0.5 -0.5

-1 -1

-1.5 -1.5

-2 -2

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 10. Across-wind acceleration in X-direction atop the building (mean Fig. 11. Across-wind acceleration in X-direction atop the building (mean
wind speed = 27 m/s). wind speed = 27 m/s).

responses even if the super tall building is subject to mod- are relatively smaller than those from the frequency
erate wind speed excitation. The effect of actual amplitude- domain method. The main reason for the difference may
dependent damping on the across-wind responses at be due to the effect of time constant on the dynamic
different wind speed levels was clearly demonstrated from response. As indicated by Jeary [10], a structure with a res-
the calculated results in Table 4. onance frequency of f0 and an associated damping ratio n0
has a time constant s which is defined as follows:
6. Effect of time constant on the along-wind responses of the 1
tall building s¼ ð15Þ
2pf0 n0
As indicated in Tables 2 and 3, the results of the wind- When the along-wind response of a tall building is evalu-
induced responses obtained from the time domain analysis ated in frequency domain, the ratio of the RMS deflection

Table 4
The across-wind responses of Di Wang Tower in X-direction
Wind speed Damping Results from the time domain method Results from the frequency domain
(m/s) ratio Displacement (mm) Acceleration (gal) method

RMS Maximum Peak RMS Maximum Peak RMS for RMS for
value value factor value value factor displacement (mm) acceleration (gal)
15 NL 2.93 8.20 2.79 0.26 0.81 3.10
1% 2.86 8.03 2.81 0.24 0.84 3.50 2.90 0.23
2% 2.78 7.50 2.66 0.19 0.69 3.56 2.70 0.16
3% 2.66 7.05 2.68 0.16 0.58 3.60 2.58 0.13
27 NL 13.60 34.90 2.56 0.82 2.71 3.30
1% 14.10 36.60 2.59 1.20 3.12 2.60 14.47 1.30
2% 12.65 33.83 2.59 0.77 2.51 3.26 13.02 0.91
3% 11.65 31.79 2.54 0.65 2.40 3.70 12.09 0.74
32 NL 22.10 62.24 2.81 1.36 4.86 3.57
1% 23.19 68.56 2.95 1.69 5.16 3.05 24.92 2.03
2% 21.94 62.79 2.86 1.32 4.79 3.63 22.60 1.50
3% 20.41 60.13 2.95 1.16 4.75 4.09 21.30 1.22
37 NL 33.54 97.26 2.91 2.19 8.04 3.67
1% 36.38 100.68 2.76 2.74 9.46 3.45 37.05 3.26
2% 29.83 83.82 2.83 2.09 7.94 3.79 32.19 2.29
3% 26.91 78.85 2.91 1.74 6.11 3.51 28.13 1.87
48 NL 65.10 187.04 2.87 4.63 14.09 3.03
1% 75.74 208.94 2.75 6.82 17.55 2.57 79.69 6.93
2% 67.21 189.02 2.81 5.14 15.37 2.99 68.35 5.38
3% 63.42 188.69 2.97 4.16 12.86 3.09 63.03 4.27
Note: NL – proposed amplitude-dependent damping model.
1174 J.R. Wu et al. / Computers and Structures 85 (2007) 1165–1176

rx to the mean deflection x atop the building can be ob- ture is modeled as a multi-degree of freedom system in the
tained by the following equation [7]: dynamic analysis.
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi Based on the generated along-wind fluctuating forces,
rx SE the along-wind responses in Y-direction of the building
¼ 2I u B þ ð16Þ
x n0 were determined in both time and frequency domain for
the case that the mean wind speed atop the building was
where Iu is the turbulence intensity atop the building, B is 32 m/s which is corresponding to the design wind speed
the background excitation factor, S is the size reduction with 10-year return period. For various simulation config-
factor to account for the correlation of pressure over the urations, it was assumed that except for the damping ratios
building, E is the gust wind energy factor which is defined of the building, the structural parameters and its dynamics
by the equation E ¼ p4 f0 Sðf0 Þ, where S(f0) is the value of characteristics were kept as unchanged for examining the
normalized fluctuating along-wind wind speed spectrum effect of time constant on the wind-induced responses of
at natural frequency f0 and it can be calculated from Eq. Di Wang Tower. While the damping ratios were supposed
(6). to take 13 different constant values (0.01–5% as indicated
The acceleration response can be estimated by Eq. (17) in Table 5), the time constant varied in the range of
in the way that the background displacement response con- 18.59–930 s/rad. The ratios of RMS responses obtained
tributes almost nothing to the RMS acceleration: by the time domain analysis to those by the frequency
sffiffiffiffiffiffi domain method actually reflect the effect of the time con-
rx 2 SE stant on the along-wind responses of the tall building.
¼ ð2pf0 Þ 2I u ð17Þ These ratios are also shown in Fig. 12. It can be seen from
x n0
this figure that there is a systematic decrease in the ratio of
the simulated time domain results to the ‘‘expected’’ fre-
The relationship established in Eqs. (16) and (17) assumes
that no effect caused by systematic response is presented
[10]. In practice, a systematic effect actually exists for a
Ratio of time-dimain to frequency domain value

damped structural system. For a linear damped system 1

responding to a specified load with single frequency sine Reduction factor for acceleration
0.95
wave, it will reach 99.3% of its final steady-state response Reduction factor for displacement
only after 5 time constants (5s) [10]. The structure may 0.9
never reach the response estimated from Eqs. (16) and
0.85
(17) because of the lag between the actual response and
the ‘‘final’’ steady-state response. It was found that the 0.8
reduction in RMS displacement of a structure with a long
time constant can be as high as 20% [10]. This value is cor- 0.75

responding to a reduction factor of 80%. By taking Di

0.7
Wang Tower as an example, the effect of time constant 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Time constant (sec/rad)
on its wind-induced responses will be studied herein. Un-
like the previous study on this topic [10], tall building struc- Fig. 12. The effect of time constant on the along-wind responses.

Table 5
Along-wind responses in Y-direction (mean wind speed is 32 m/s atop the building)
Damping Time constant Results from the frequency domain Results from the time Ratio of the results from the
ratio (%) (s/rad) analysis domain analysis time domain to those from the
frequency domain
RMS of RMS of RMS of RMS of Acceleration Displacement
acceleration (gal) displacement (mm) acceleration (gal) displacement (mm)
0.1 930.1 10.29 108.5 7.59 79.21 0.739 0.730
0.2 465.1 7.04 75.8 5.39 57.46 0.766 0.754
0.4 232.5 5.05 56.43 4.13 44.03 0.819 0.781
0.8 116.7 3.51 41.80 3.10 33.85 0.885 0.806
1 92.9 3.19 38.90 2.76 31.00 0.869 0.810
1.5 61.9 2.60 33.90 2.34 28.56 0.884 0.847
2 46.5 2.25 31.10 2.06 26.24 0.917 0.862
2.5 37.1 2.01 29.30 1.84 25.30 0.917 0.862
3 31.1 1.83 28.06 1.70 24.61 0.934 0.877
3.5 24.3 1.69 27.10 1.57 23.85 0.934 0.884
4 23.3 1.58 26.30 1.48 23.32 0.943 0.893
4.5 20.6 1.49 25.78 1.41 23.04 0.952 0.847
5 18.7 1.41 25.30 1.35 22.79 0.962 0.901
 J.R. Wu et al. / Computers and Structures 85 (2007) 1165–1176
quency domain steady responses as the time constant
increases. The maximum of the reduction factor can reach
73% over the range of the time constants considered in this
study. As modern tall buildings are becoming taller and rel-
atively more flexible, there is a trend for the natural fre-
quency to become lower and damping ratios to become
smaller. Therefore, the time constants of these kinds of
modern tall buildings may be greater than those of most
buildings built in the past, and the reduction of the wind-
induced response by time domain method results in a
benefit for reducing design wind loads on such high-rise
buildings (Fig. 12).
7. Conclusion
Based on long-term full-scale measurements of wind-
induced responses of Di Wang Tower under typhoon condi-
tions, an empirical amplitude-dependent damping model for
this building was proposed in this study. The damping data-
base was established during the passages of several typhoons
including two very strong typhoons. The wind-induced
responses of the super tall building were numerically evalu-
ated in time domain and also in frequency domain. The
amplitude-dependent damping effects on the wind-induced
responses were investigated through comparison between
the dynamic responses predicted using the measured damp-
ing characteristics and those computed by using constant
damping parameters. In addition, the effect of time constant
on the along-wind responses of this super tall building was
also studied. Some conclusions from this combined experi-
mental and numerical study are summarized as follows:
(1) The peak factor values of the wind-induced responses
determined by the time domain method were found in
the range of 2.5–3.6. These values are smaller than
the generally adopted value of 3.5 in wind engineering
practices.
(2) The effects of amplitude-dependent damping on the
along-wind and across-wind responses are significant.
Constant damping ratios as recommended in current
codes or standards for the analysis of wind-induced
vibrations of tall buildings may lead to a significant
under-estimation of the responses. It was observed
from the damping measurements under typhoon con-
ditions and the investigations on the effects of ampli-
tude-dependent damping on the dynamic responses
that the design damping level currently used by struc-
tural engineering practitioners for super tall buildings
such as Di Wang Tower appears to be high and not
conservative for serviceability considerations.
(3) The results predicted based on the constant damping
ratio of 1% were found in good agreement with those
obtained using the measured damping characteristics
when the mean wind speed atop the building was
about 27 m/s which is corresponding to the design
wind speed with 5-year return period. The actual
damping ratios of the fundamental modes were found
1175
to be about 2% when the mean wind speed atop the
building was 48 m/s which is approximately equiva-
lent to the design wind speed with 100-year return
period. This suggests that damping ratio of 1.0–2%
critical appears reasonable for wind-resistant design
of the super tall building.
(4) The effect of the time constant on the wind-induced
responses of Di Wang Tower is becoming more obvi-
ous when the value of the time constant reaches a cer-
tain value. There is a systematic decrease in the ratio
of time domain result to the ‘‘expected’’ steady
response as the time constant increases. The maxi-
mum of reduction factor can be as high as 73% over
the range of time constants investigated in this study,
suggesting that the adoption of the time domain
method offers a benefit for reducing design wind
loads on the super tall building.
Acknowledgements
The work described in this paper was fully supported by
a grant from City University of Hong Kong (Project No.
7001972). The financial support is gratefully acknowl-
edged. Thanks are due to Prof. A.P. Jeary, Dr. N. Zhang,
Dr. K. Yang, Dr. X.Q. Xiao and Dr. C.K. Wong for their
valuable contributions to this study.
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