Wind Induced Vibration of Single Layer Lattice Domes

Jianheng SUN Professor Department of Civil Engineering Agricultural University of Hebei Baoding, China
sunjianheng@yahoo.com

Ying LI Postgraduate student Department of Civil Engineering Agricultural University of Hebei Baoding, China
liyingjlali@163.com

A. Rahimi NOSHNAGH Ph.D. Student Space Structures Research Centre Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences University of Surrey Guildford, UK
a.rahimi-noshnagh@surrey.ac.uk

Summary
Wind load is one of the major loads that affect spatial structures such as lattice domes and vaults. In engineering design, wind loads are usually treated as static loads. Comparing with the tall building structures which are often treated as one dimensional structure for wind load consideration, the three dimensional and curved surfaces of the spatial structures make the prediction of the wind effects more complex. Also, the actual three dimensional positions of the nodes should be taken into consideration when applying wind load as a time dependent function in the analysis of wind induced vibration. This paper uses numerical methods to simulate the time series of fluctuating wind speed at nodes for single layer lattice dome. It describes the vibration effects that are developed in the lattice dome structures are actually due to the fluctuating wind which can be also explained considering a wind vibration coefficient. In this analysis of wind induced vibration, two different methods for application of wind load are used. In the first method, without considering any spatial correlation of the nodes, all the nodes receive the wind loads produced by the same simulated wind speed time series. In the second method, the spatial correlation for the position of the nodes is considered. In this method, different numerically simulated wind speed time series are applied to the nodes of the structure. The displacements and the internal forces of a dome are examined and compared for different analysis. Also, for each case the wind vibration coefficients based on the displacement of nodes and the internal forces of the members are calculated respectively. Numerical comparison of the analysis results shows that the resulting wind effects applied to the lattice dome structure for the two methods are rather different. In addition, the effect of height to span ratio of the domes on the wind affects is investigated. Finally, the wind vibration coefficients that are appropriate for the engineering design of lattice domes are discussed. Keywords: Wind Load, Spatial Correlation of Nodes, Lattice Dome, Wind Vibration Coefficient.