WIND LOAD ANALYSIS FOR TALL BUILDINGS

Mahmoud SAYED AHMED

1

1
Department of Civil Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
Email: m.sayedahmed@ryerson.ca
Abstract
A tall building (skyscraper) is habitable multi-story building, where lateral loads govern
its design, i.e. wind load, seismic load. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
(CTBUH) ranks the height of buildings by three methods: (1) Height of architectural top
of the building (2) To highest occupied floor (3) To tip of spire/antenna. For tall buildings
wind-induced response consists of three components (Yigit et al, 2010): static component
due to mean wind force, quasi-static caused by low frequency wind force fluctuation and
resonant component caused by low wind force fluctuation near the structures first mode
natural frequency (Tamura, 2003). This assignment presents the wind static loads and
predicts the relative force and moment per floor according ASCE 7-02 for 42 story
building.
Keywords: Wind, Load, Analysis, Tall Buildings
Introduction
Designers for tall buildings must account structural stability for wind load, wind shear,
wind moment, and lateral displacement for future habitants, and to extend their study to
cover the perception motion for the close-by pedestrians against Mary poppins
syndrome and Marilyn Monroe effect, which refers to the tendency of the wind to lift
the pedestrian, and the billowing action of womens skirt respectively (Hossain, 2012).
Design for wind depends on median of probability distribution for the Extreme Value
Analysis (EVA) for data sampling process for the Annual Maxima Series (AMS) from
the regional climatic databases. On the other hand, wind speed for buildings is defined by
power law (Crawley, 1993; Gupta, 1993) as follows:
[1] :
z
= :
g
. _
z
z
g
]
1
o
, 0 < z < zg
Where v
z
= speed of the wind at height z; v
g
= gradient wind at gradient height z
g
; alpha
= exponential coefficient. The wind speed is then transferred into lateral windward and
leeward pressure, where designer should consider the Drift Index of 1/400. Lateral drift
limits are set between 0.001 to 0.005, where lower values are used for hotels or
residential buildings than for office buildings. ASCE 7-02 (static method) also known as
Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures set two methods for
pressure coefficient C
p
; method 1 for building with maximum height of 400 ft, and
method 2 for building with maximum height of 200 ft, above 400 ft, a wind tunnel
analysis should be used. As Tall Building is a column cantilevering structure from earth.
2

It becomes a necessity to support the vertical loads at the edges to increase the structural
efficiency, which is measured by two indexes: (1) The bending rigidity index (BRI), (2)
The shear rigidity index (SRI) (Taranath, 2010), where that also will enhance the building
stability against the lateral drift induced by wind.

Study Program
The design wind pressure P is given as a product of the combined height, exposure, and
gust factor coefficient Ce; the pressure coefficient Cq; the wind stagnation pressure qs;
and the building Importance Factor Iw (UBC 1997, ASCE 7-02), as per follow:
[2] P = C
c
C
q
q
s
I
w





Table 1. Importance factor for Wind load, Iw
Importance category Importance Factor Iw
ULS SLS
Low 0.8 0.75
Normal 1 0.75
High 1.15 0.75
Post-disaster 1.25 0.75





Table 2. The exposure category according to UBC 1997
Level Description
Exposure B Roughest, terrain associated with suburban and urban site.
Exposure C Open terrain with scattered obstructions but also includes shoreline in
hurricane prone region.
Exposure D Smoothest, shoreline (excluding hurricane prone region) with wind
flowing over open water for a distance of a least a mile.


3

Table 3.Combined height, exposure, and gust factor coefficient (Ce)

Height above average level of
adjoining ground (feet)
x 304.8 for mm
Exposure
D C B
0-15 1.39 1.06 0.62
20 1.45 1.13 0.67
25 1.50 1.19 0.72
30 1.54 1.23 0.76
40 1.62 1.31 0.84
60 1.73 1.43 0.95
80 1.81 1.53 1.04
100 1.88 1.61 1.13
120 1.93 1.67 1.20
160 2.02 1.79 1.31
200 2.10 1.87 1.42
300 2.23 2.05 1.63
400 2.34 2.19 1.80


Table 4. Pressure coefficient Cq for primary frame and systems
Descriptions Cq
Method 1 (Normal force method) Maximum height 400 ft)
Windward wall 0.8 inward
Leeward wall 0.5 outward


The wind stagnation pressure is given as Bernoullis equation, where the density of air is
0.07065 pcf, for conditions of standard atmosphere, temperature (59
o
F), and barometric
pressure (29.92 in of mercury).
[3] q
s
= u.SpI
2
= u.uu2S6I
2


[4] F

=
(P
i
+P
i-1
)wh
2(1000)

Where Pi and Pi-1 are the total wind pressure in psf at floor I and i-1, respectively; W is
the width of the building in ft, and h is the story height in ft for inner story.


4

Worked Example
A 42-story Hospital Building, with exposure condition: open terrain with scattered
obstruction but also includes shoreline in hurricane prone region. Building height is 430
ft consisting of 2 bottom floors at 15 ft and 40 typical floors at 10 ft. Basic wind speed V
= 100 mph. Building width = 80 ft. Find the floor-by-floor lateral force based on UBC.

Solution
Fig. 1 shows the besting fitting curve for the combined height, exposure, and gust factor
coefficient Ce, and to interpolate the data for the required heights.

Figure 1.Windward coefficient

Table 5 shows the windward and leeward pressures for 42story building, added to that
additionalcolumnswhereaddedtoshowthewindshearforceandwindmomentgeneratedby
everyfloor.Itwasfound thegroundandrooffloorsdontfollow thesametrendliketheinter
betweenfloorsintermsofpressure,forcesandmoment.

y=0.3578ln(x)+0.0023
R=0.9937
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
0 100 200 300 400 500
C
e

W
i
n
d
w
a
r
d
Height,ft
Series1
Log.(Series1)
Table 5.Design example 42-story building, design wind load, UBC 1997 procedures
Roof
Height
above
ground,ft
Ce
Windward CeLeeward
Cq
Windward
Cq
Leeward
Windward
pressure
P=Ce.Cq.qs.Iw
Leeward
pressure
P=Ce.Cq.qs.Iw
Design
pressure,
psf
Floorbyfloor
lateralloads,
kips
Shear,
Kips
Moment,
Kipsft
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9=7+8 10
Roof 430 2.19 2.19 0.80 0.50 51.58 32.24 83.82 43.58 43.58 0
41 420 2.19 2.19 0.80 0.50 51.58 32.24 83.82 67.05 110.64 283.297
40 410 2.19 2.19 0.80 0.50 51.58 32.24 83.82 67.05 177.69 1389.664
39 400 2.19 2.19 0.80 0.50 51.58 32.24 83.82 66.55 244.24 3166.556
38 390 2.14 2.19 0.80 0.50 50.33 32.24 82.57 65.97 310.21 5608.98
37 380 2.13 2.19 0.80 0.50 50.11 32.24 82.35 65.79 376.00 8711.065
36 370 2.12 2.19 0.80 0.50 49.89 32.24 82.12 65.61 441.60 12471.04
35 360 2.11 2.19 0.80 0.50 49.66 32.24 81.89 65.42 507.02 16887.07
34 350 2.10 2.19 0.80 0.50 49.42 32.24 81.66 65.23 572.25 21957.3
33 340 2.09 2.19 0.80 0.50 49.17 32.24 81.41 65.03 637.28 27679.79
32 330 2.08 2.19 0.80 0.50 48.92 32.24 81.16 64.82 702.10 34052.57
31 320 2.07 2.19 0.80 0.50 48.66 32.24 80.90 64.61 766.71 41073.58
30 310 2.05 2.19 0.80 0.50 48.40 32.24 80.63 64.46 831.17 48740.72
29 300 2.05 2.19 0.80 0.50 48.28 32.24 80.52 64.24 895.41 57052.47
28 290 2.03 2.19 0.80 0.50 47.83 32.24 80.07 63.94 959.35 66006.57
27 280 2.02 2.19 0.80 0.50 47.54 32.24 79.77 63.70 1023.05 75600.05
26 270 2.01 2.19 0.80 0.50 47.23 32.24 79.47 63.45 1086.49 85830.51
25 260 1.99 2.19 0.80 0.50 46.91 32.24 79.15 63.19 1149.68 96695.43
24 250 1.98 2.19 0.80 0.50 46.58 32.24 78.82 62.92 1212.60 108192.2
23 240 1.96 2.19 0.80 0.50 46.24 32.24 78.48 62.64 1275.24 120318.2
22 230 1.95 2.19 0.80 0.50 45.88 32.24 78.12 62.34 1337.58 133070.6
21 220 1.93 2.19 0.80 0.50 45.51 32.24 77.74 62.04 1399.62 146446.4
20 210 1.92 2.19 0.80 0.50 45.11 32.24 77.35 61.45 1461.07 160442.6
19 200 1.87 2.19 0.80 0.50 44.04 32.24 76.28 61.11 1522.18 175053.3
18 190 1.88 2.19 0.80 0.50 44.27 32.24 76.51 61.02 1583.21 190275.1
17 180 1.86 2.19 0.80 0.50 43.81 32.24 76.05 60.65 1643.86 206107.2
16 170 1.84 2.19 0.80 0.50 43.33 32.24 75.57 59.99 1703.84 222545.7
15 160 1.79 2.19 0.80 0.50 42.16 32.24 74.39 59.56 1763.41 239584.2
14 150 1.80 2.19 0.80 0.50 42.28 32.24 74.52 59.38 1822.79 257218.2
13 140 1.77 2.19 0.80 0.50 41.70 32.24 73.93 58.90 1881.68 275446.1
12 130 1.74 2.19 0.80 0.50 41.07 32.24 73.31 57.95 1939.63 294262.9
11 120 1.67 2.19 0.80 0.50 39.33 32.24 71.57 57.39 1997.02 313659.2
10 110 1.68 2.19 0.80 0.50 39.66 32.24 71.90 56.82 2053.84 333629.5
9 100 1.61 2.19 0.80 0.50 37.92 32.24 70.16 56.15 2109.99 354167.9
8 90 1.61 2.19 0.80 0.50 37.97 32.24 70.21 55.39 2165.38 375267.8
7 80 1.53 2.19 0.80 0.50 36.03 32.24 68.27 54.55 2219.93 396921.6
6 70 1.52 2.19 0.80 0.50 35.86 32.24 68.09 53.60 2273.53 419120.9
5 60 1.43 2.19 0.80 0.50 33.68 32.24 65.92 52.47 2326.00 441856.3
4 50 1.40 2.19 0.80 0.50 33.02 32.24 65.26 51.34 2377.34 465116.3
3 40 1.31 2.19 0.80 0.50 30.85 32.24 63.09 49.72 2427.06 488889.7
2 30 1.23 2.19 0.80 0.50 28.97 32.24 61.21 71.04 2498.10 513160.3
1 15 1.06 2.19 0.80 0.50 24.97 32.24 57.20 2498.10 538141.3
Notes
V=100mph,exposurecategoryC
Impotancefactor,Iw=1.15
Windpressureqs=0.00256V^2=25.6psf
6

Fig. 2 shows the wind pressure on the building, as the suction leeward pressure is
constant along the height of the building, and the windward increases non-linearly
follows power law as indicated on the figure. Fig. 3 presents the calculated floor-by-floor
wind lateral load

Figure 2.Wind pressures

Figure 3. Floor-by-Floor lateral load
y=5E06x
4.6382
R=0.9959
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00
H
e
i
g
h
t
,

f
t
WindPressure,psf
WindwardPressure
LeewardPressure
Power(WindwardPressure)
y=8E12x
7.5106
R=0.9962
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00
H
e
i
g
h
t
,

f
t
FloorbyFloorlateralloads,kips
Series1
Power(Series1)
7

Fig. 4 presents the wind shear force diagram, it was present in point form instead of
continuous vertical line per floor just for simplification. It shows a linear increment of the
shear values from the roof towards the ground floor. Fig. 5 presents the wind bending
moment, with polynomial trend of fifth degree, also increases from the roof floor towards
the ground one.

Figure 4. Wind Shear force diagram

Figure 5. Wind bending moment diagram
Conclusions
The proposed example extended the building height beyond the UBC 1997 and ASCE 7-
02 recommendation of 400 ft-height for Method 1, the trend obtained from the Bending
moment shows that moment will be almost vertically constant after 430 ft.
y=0.1638x+444.5
R=0.9983
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
0.00 500.00 1000.00 1500.00 2000.00 2500.00 3000.00
H
e
i
g
h
t
,

f
t
Shear,kips
Shear
Linear
(Shear)
y=8E26x
5
+1E19x
4
6E14x
3
+2E08x
2
0.0027x+410.14
R=0.9982
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000
H
e
i
g
h
t
,

f
t
Moment,kipsft
Moment
Poly.(Moment)