WIND LOAD ANALYSIS FOR TALL BUILDINGS

Mahmoud SAYED AHMED1

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]

, 0 < z < zg

Where vz = speed of the wind at height z; vg = gradient wind at gradient height zg; 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 Cp; 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.

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]

Table 1. Importance factor for Wind load, Iw

Importance category

Importance Factor Iw
ULS
0.8
1
1.15
1.25

Low
Normal
High
Post-disaster

SLS
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.75

Table 2. The exposure category according to UBC 1997

Level
Exposure B
Exposure C
Exposure D

Description
Roughest, terrain associated with suburban and urban site.
Open terrain with scattered obstructions but also includes shoreline in
hurricane prone region.
Smoothest, shoreline (excluding hurricane prone region) with wind
flowing over open water for a distance of a least a mile.

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

Height above average level of
adjoining ground (feet)
x 304.8 for mm
0-15
20
25
30
40
60
80
100
120
160
200
300
400

Exposure
C

1.39
1.45
1.50
1.54
1.62
1.73
1.81
1.88
1.93
2.02
2.10
2.23
2.34

1.06
1.13
1.19
1.23
1.31
1.43
1.53
1.61
1.67
1.79
1.87
2.05
2.19

0.62
0.67
0.72
0.76
0.84
0.95
1.04
1.13
1.20
1.31
1.42
1.63
1.80

Table 4. Pressure coefficient Cq for primary frame and systems

Descriptions
Method 1 (Normal force method) Maximum height 400 ft)
Windward wall
Leeward wall

Cq
0.8 inward
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 (59oF), and barometric
pressure (29.92 in of mercury).
[3]

0.5

0.00256

[4]
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.

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.
2.50
y=0.3578ln(x)+0.0023
R=0.9937

CeWindward

2.00

1.50

1.00
Series1
0.50
Log.(Series1)
0.00
0

100

200

300

400

500

Height,ft

Figure 1.Windward coefficient

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

Table 5.Design example 42-story building, design wind load, UBC 1997 procedures

Roof
1

Height
above
ground,ft
2

Roof
41
40
39
38
37
36
35
34
33
32
31
30
29
28
27
26
25
24
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

430
420
410
400
390
380
370
360
350
340
330
320
310
300
290
280
270
260
250
240
230
220
210
200
190
180
170
160
150
140
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
15

Ce
Cq
Windward CeLeeward Windward
3
4
5
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.14
2.13
2.12
2.11
2.10
2.09
2.08
2.07
2.05
2.05
2.03
2.02
2.01
1.99
1.98
1.96
1.95
1.93
1.92
1.87
1.88
1.86
1.84
1.79
1.80
1.77
1.74
1.67
1.68
1.61
1.61
1.53
1.52
1.43
1.40
1.31
1.23
1.06

2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19
2.19

Notes
V=100mph,exposurecategoryC
Impotancefactor,Iw=1.15
Windpressureqs=0.00256V^2=25.6psf

0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80

Cq
Leeward
6

Windward
pressure
P=Ce.Cq.qs.Iw
7

Leeward
pressure
P=Ce.Cq.qs.Iw
8

0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50

51.58
51.58
51.58
51.58
50.33
50.11
49.89
49.66
49.42
49.17
48.92
48.66
48.40
48.28
47.83
47.54
47.23
46.91
46.58
46.24
45.88
45.51
45.11
44.04
44.27
43.81
43.33
42.16
42.28
41.70
41.07
39.33
39.66
37.92
37.97
36.03
35.86
33.68
33.02
30.85
28.97
24.97

32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24
32.24

Design Floorbyfloor
pressure, lateralloads, Shear,
kips
Kips
psf
9=7+8
10
83.82
83.82
83.82
83.82
82.57
82.35
82.12
81.89
81.66
81.41
81.16
80.90
80.63
80.52
80.07
79.77
79.47
79.15
78.82
78.48
78.12
77.74
77.35
76.28
76.51
76.05
75.57
74.39
74.52
73.93
73.31
71.57
71.90
70.16
70.21
68.27
68.09
65.92
65.26
63.09
61.21
57.20

43.58
67.05
67.05
66.55
65.97
65.79
65.61
65.42
65.23
65.03
64.82
64.61
64.46
64.24
63.94
63.70
63.45
63.19
62.92
62.64
62.34
62.04
61.45
61.11
61.02
60.65
59.99
59.56
59.38
58.90
57.95
57.39
56.82
56.15
55.39
54.55
53.60
52.47
51.34
49.72
71.04

43.58
110.64
177.69
244.24
310.21
376.00
441.60
507.02
572.25
637.28
702.10
766.71
831.17
895.41
959.35
1023.05
1086.49
1149.68
1212.60
1275.24
1337.58
1399.62
1461.07
1522.18
1583.21
1643.86
1703.84
1763.41
1822.79
1881.68
1939.63
1997.02
2053.84
2109.99
2165.38
2219.93
2273.53
2326.00
2377.34
2427.06
2498.10
2498.10

Moment,
Kipsft

0
283.297
1389.664
3166.556
5608.98
8711.065
12471.04
16887.07
21957.3
27679.79
34052.57
41073.58
48740.72
57052.47
66006.57
75600.05
85830.51
96695.43
108192.2
120318.2
133070.6
146446.4
160442.6
175053.3
190275.1
206107.2
222545.7
239584.2
257218.2
275446.1
294262.9
313659.2
333629.5
354167.9
375267.8
396921.6
419120.9
441856.3
465116.3
488889.7
513160.3
538141.3

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
500
450
y=5E06x4.6382
R=0.9959

400

Height,ft

350
300
250

WindwardPressure

200
LeewardPressure

150
100

Power(WindwardPressure)

50
0
0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

70.00

80.00

70.00

80.00

WindPressure,psf

Figure 2.Wind pressures

500
450
y=8E12x7.5106
R=0.9962

400

Height,ft

350
300
250
200
150

Series1

100

Power(Series1)

50
0
0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

FloorbyFloorlateralloads,kips

Figure 3. Floor-by-Floor lateral load

6

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.
500
450
400
Height,ft

350
y=0.1638x+444.5
R=0.9983

300
250
200
150

Shear

100

Linear
(Shear)

50
0
0.00

500.00

1000.00

1500.00

2000.00

2500.00

3000.00

Shear,kips

Figure 4. Wind Shear force diagram

500
y=8E26x5 +1E19x4 6E14x3 +2E08x2 0.0027x+410.14
R=0.9982

450
400

Height,ft

350
300
250
200
150
100
Moment

50

Poly.(Moment)

0
0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

Moment,kipsft

Figure 5. Wind bending moment diagram

Conclusions
The proposed example extended the building height beyond the UBC 1997 and ASCE 702 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.
7