ARTICLE IN PRESS

Journal of Wind Engineering

and Industrial Aerodynamics 95 (2007) 871–887
www.elsevier.com/locate/jweia

Wind response of large roofs of stadions and arena

P. Biagini, C. Borri, L. Facchini
CRIACIV, c/o Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy
Available online 3 April 2007

Abstract

The paper presents the experimental tests carried out in the boundary layer wind tunnel (BLWT)
for the design of large roofs of the new Olympic stadium (Karaiskaki) in Pyraeus (Greece),
Manfredonia (Italy) and ‘‘Delle Alpi’’ of Turin (Italy). In addition, a report about some results of the
T.D. dynamic response analyses performed on the Karaiskaki structure and on the Olympic stadium
in Rome will be given. The peculiar shape of these large structures and their particular location (two
of them are in the immediate sea vicinity) let arise the question about the actual distribution of the
wind loads, i.e., on the pattern of pressure coefficients (cp) over the entire roof. For every wind
direction investigated, the following quantities have been evaluated: mean values of the aerodynamic
coefficients cp, standard deviation of cp and maximum and minimum values of cp. Finally, the
recorded data have been used for the numerical simulation of the dynamic response of the structure
in Time Domain, whose aim is the definition of the design loads of the steel lattice structures.
A numerical model of the ‘‘Delle Alpi’’ stadium is also in preparation, allowing results of dynamic
response analyses, which are still in progress.
r 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Boundary layer wind tunnel (BLWT); Design loads; Large roofs

1. Introduction

Dynamic response of large roofs is dominantly determined by extreme winds and (for
seismic areas) by earthquake induced vibrations. This paper focuses its attention on the
significant effects of wind actions on the lightweight (usually large and therefore highly

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: cborri@dicea.unifi.it (C. Borri).

0167-6105/$ - see front matter r 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.jweia.2007.01.025
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geometrically nonlinear) structures which are often employed for covering stands of
stadiums and/or sports facilities.
The prediction of the wind induced response of such complex systems cannot always rely
on the usually employed spectral method, whose procedure (in frequency domain, FD) is
also prescribed in the Rules (see for example, Eurocode 1). In addition to that, the pattern
of the actual load distribution (wind induced pressures) cannot be derived from the
literature and/or from the annexes to the Codes. In fact, every single structure is often a
new ‘‘study case’’, so that a careful and thorough analysis of the design loads requires wind
tunnel tests. These last deliver useful information on both aspects: first, the actual
pressures over exposed surfaces (including the ‘‘net’’ values, in case of open surfaces, where
wind can act on two opposed sides); second, the ‘‘correlation structure’’ of the wind field,
which allows the numerical generation of an arbitrary number of pressure time series
having the same time/space correlation as in the wind tunnel modeling. These pressure
fields can finally be used as the input (excitation forces) of a dynamic problem, whose
output (induced displacements) can be obtained by integrating a system of equations of
motion (Fig. 1).
The paper presents the experimental campaign, carried out in the CRIACIV boundary
layer wind tunnel (BLWT) (Fig. 2), on three rigid models of large stadium roofs:
Karaiskaki stadium in Pyraeus, the new roof of Manfredonia sport plant and the new

Fig. 1. General view of the treated roof structures: (a) Olympic stadium in Rome, (b) Manfredonia roof structure,
(c) Karaiskaki stadium in Pyraeus, and (d) new Delle Alpi stadium.
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Fig. 2. View of the CRIACIV boundary layer wind tunnel.

Delle Alpi stadium in Turin. As for the structural characteristics, the Karaiskaki roof in
Pyraeus is composed of 14 cantilevered structures (35 m span) which sustain the roof
panels connected to an internal trussed beam (Fig. 1); the Manfredonia one is a roof
constituted by three arches in lamellar wood, whose span is about 75 m (Fig. 1) and finally,
the Delle Alpi structure is a modification of the existing one (Fig. 1) and is made by a
cable-stayed roof with some interference problems with the old structure (this last, in a
transition time, has to be maintained).
As for the aspect of reproducing the dynamic behaviour introduced above, analyses in
T.D. can be carried out by means of integrating the system of equations of motion.
External forces are considered as a set of correlated time series of the wind pressures
(multiplying a factor considering a relevant surface) which, in turn, are obtained through
coefficients obtained by wind tunnel tests.
This procedure has been introduced many years ago (Borri and Zahlten, 1991) and has
been repeatedly adopted and upgraded. In the case of the large roof of the Olympic
stadium in Rome (which was added to the uncovered stadium only in 1990), the procedure
was developed and experimentally adopted, giving surprising results. Experimental results
from wind tunnel tests were available from the A. Davenport laboratory of UWO
(Canada); these data allowed to build up the correlation structure of the dynamic wind
time series over the entire roof, as it has been reported in Borri et al. (1992). This structure
is very particular, as it has been realized as an enormous ‘‘bike wheel’’ through an elliptical
external compressed ring and an internal tension ring, made by pretensioned cables
connected by radial cable beams. The roof plant, in fact, is an ellipsis with a maximum
radius of about 308 m and the minimum one of about 237 m (Fig. 1). Analyses performed
on the F.E. model of the roof and the technique used to generate the wind load to be
applied on the entire roof will be commented upon.

2. Wind tunnel tests

Wind tunnel tests reported in the present paper have been performed in the BLWT of
the CRIACIV in Prato (Florence) (Fig. 1). Generally, the structure model also includes
neighboring buildings within a circumference from the centre of the structure (Table 1),
depending on its dimensions. As previously stated, the model scale is variable in function
of the real dimension of the structure, but, above all, it is limited by the cross-sectional area
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Table 1
Model scale adopted for the structures studied at CRIACIV BLWT

Model scale Radius (m)

Karaiskaki olympic stadium 1:250 250

Manfredonia stadium 1:200 200
Olympic stadium Rome 1:200 ¼
Delle Alpi stadium 1:250 250

Fig. 3. Pressure taps positioning: (a) Delle Alpi stadium, (b) Karaiskaki stadium, and (c) Manfredonia stadium.

of the test section and by the simulated boundary layer. In fact, due to the so-called
‘‘blockage’’ effect (i.e., the obstruction to the flow caused by the dimensions of the model),
the total model cross section shall not exceed 5% of the working section.
This condition implies a limitation on the utilization of ‘‘large’’ geometric scales for the
model.
All models have been equipped with a certain number of pressure taps, in order to
measure the instantaneous pressures on the roof. As all the structures are not closed ones,
one has to measure the outer and inner pressure of the roof. This makes necessary to install
two sets of pressure taps over the whole surface investigated: the first one to measure the
pressure under the roof and a second one to measure the value above the roof. In this way,
every couple of taps will deliver the ‘‘net’’ value of the instantaneous pressure and,
consequently, of the ‘‘net’’ pressure coefficient cp.
For the Karaiskaki stadium and for the Delle Alpi stadium, the roof model has been
equipped with 252 pressure taps, 126 on the outer surface and 126 on the inner surface.
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In the case of the Manfredonia stadium, the number of pressure taps has been amounted to
112 (56 outer and 56 inner). As one can see in Fig. 3, the tap’s position, in the case of the
Karaiskaki Olympic stadium is very similar to that of the Delle Alpi stadium. The models
of the roofs, adopted for the wind tunnel tests at CRIACIV, are shown in Fig. 4. All
models are placed on a turning table at the centre of the test section so that it is possible to
carry out several tests, under different incoming flow directions, by rotation of the model
with respect to the flow (Fig. 5).
Tests on the three roofs at CRIACIV have been carried out by investigating 20 wind
directions for the Karaiskaki stadium and 16 wind directions for the Delle Alpi and
Manfredonia stadiums. Once the model is built, the first step in the wind tunnel tests is to
characterize the wind velocity profile and the turbulence intensity, so that the structure of
the turbulent wind with the height, in the wind tunnel, can be similar to the full-scale one
(with the appropriate scaling coefficients). The law assumed to describe the variation of the
mean wind velocity with the height is an exponential law of the type:
 a
z
UðzÞ ¼ Uðz0 Þ , (1)
z0

where U(z0) is the mean wind speed at the reference height z0, which, for example, could be
the maximum height of the roof, while a is the profile exponent (Table 2).
Hence, before the tests start, one has to reproduce the correct wind speed profile by
ensuring to match values previously mentioned.

Fig. 4. Wind tunnel models: (a) Delle Alpi stadium, (b) Karaiskaki stadium, and (c) Manfredonia stadium.
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Fig. 5. Turning table scheme (a) and view of the wind tunnel setup for the Delle Alpi stadium tests (b).

Table 2
Wind structure parameters in boundary layer simulated

a z0 (m) Lu (cm) U(z0) (m/s)

Karaiskaki olympic stadium 0.17 0.055 25–35 1.37

Manfredonia stadium 0.22–0.17 0.132–0.054 25–35 1.56–1.37
Delle Alpi stadium 0.227 0.132 35 1.563

In the definition of the wind profile, the so-called integral length scale, defined by the
following law:
Z 1
Ruu ðtÞ
Lu ¼ UðzÞ s2
dt (2)
u
0

has to be correctly reproduced (and scaled) and can be estimated from the autocorrelation
function Ruu(t) of the wind velocity.
The common method used to reproduce the actual turbulence in the wind tunnel consists
in artificial roughness and special devices to be lying on the floor of the ‘‘developing fetch’’.
In this way, the flow has the necessary length to develop the target profile. In Fig. 5, one
can see the Couhinan devices and the ‘‘spires’’ at the inlet of the wind tunnel. These devices
are followed by a ‘‘carpet’’ of little cubes whose final dimension is obtained only after
several calibration tests. In Table 2, one can see the value of the parameters obtained for
the tests of the three referred structures at the CRIACIV lab.
In some cases as, for example, for the case of the Delle Alpi and Karaiskaki stadiums,
due to the high number of pressure taps, it become necessary to carry out two separate sets
of measurements for each incoming flow direction. For every direction: (a) two runs have
been performed, each one considering half of the roof and (b) a third run, with reduced
number of taps, spread all over the surface, has been carried out in order to rebuild the
correlation structure between the different parts previously mentioned.
In practice, the roof models are completely equipped with the necessary number of
pressure taps, but during a single test, only 126 pressure taps are connected simultaneously
for measurements. This allows to increase the pressure signal sampling frequency up to
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250 Hz. The value of the pressure coefficients is hence obtained by normalizing the
measured pressure, at the generic pressure tap, with respect to the kinetic pressure at the
reference height:
pðtÞ  p0
cp ðtÞ ¼ 2
, (3)
1
2rŪ ref

where cp is the pressure coefficient, p(t) is the instantaneous value of the pressure at the
generic pressure tap, p0 is the reference pressure of the undisturbed flow and the
denominator term is the reference kinetic pressure at the roof level.
Once the time history of the cp at the outer and inner surfaces is known, one can evaluate
the net value of the pressure coefficient as:
cpnet ðtÞ ¼ cpsup ðtÞ  cpinf ðtÞ. (4)

3. Main tests results

The main results obtained in the wind tunnel tests, for the three roofs examined in the
following, are given by showing the wind pressure fields as a map (Fig. 6) representing the
time/space dependence of their distribution on the whole surface. Generally, the same map
of the elementary influence areas, contributing to each single tap, is used to generate the
time series of the pressure coefficient. In fact, for each elementary area, the time history of
the recorded pressure can be stored.
Fig. 6 reports the pattern of average pressure coefficients; nevertheless, in general, peak
pressures on the outer/inner surface of the roof have to be carefully analysed in order to
identify critical zones. This can be achieved by analysing separately the upper and the
lower parts of an open roof.
Furthermore, an important aspect, which has occurred during tests over the Delle Alpi
stadium, is the presence of the old roof; in fact, it is not planned to remove the present
roofing system, made by a radial tensile structure. The interference effects between the two
structures have been taken into account, by building a wind tunnel model in such a special
way, to be able to separate the new roof from the old one and to perform the wind tunnel
tests in both configurations: with and without the old roof (Fig. 7).

0.355
0.241
0.127
0.013
-0.101
-0.215
-0.329
45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 -0.443
37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 -0.557
-0.671
29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
-0.784
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
-0.898
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 -1.012
-1.126
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
-1.240
-1.354
-1.468
-1.582
Wind direction -1.696
-1.810
-1.924

Fig. 6. Distribution of the mean value of the ‘‘net’’ pressure coefficient on the Manfredonia’s stadium roof.
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Fig. 7. View of two configuration of the Delle Alpi model: with the old roof (left) and without (right).

Fig. 8. View of the pressure coefficient distribution on the Delle Alpi roof: with the old roof (a) and without the
old roof (b).

As one can see in Fig. 8, the pressure coefficient pattern on the whole roof can drastically
change from one configuration to another, with obvious consequences on the structural
design (the red arrow in the wind rose indicates the incoming wind direction).
Once the cp time histories relevant to all directions measured are obtained, the next step
is to perform a statistical analysis of the processes. In fact, samples collected during the
wind tunnel tests, refer to a short wind storm (30 s), so that the max and min values of the
single series (for each pressure tap) it is not significant enough.
According to the procedure proposed by Cook and Mayne (1980) and also used in the
Eurocode 1, each pressure coefficient time history has been subdivided into 11 intervals of
2.4 s duration; this corresponds to a full-scale 10 min storm, i.e., the reference duration for
the evaluation of the max and min values. At this time, it is possible to match the 11
extreme values (max or min) with a Gumbel function and by means of the so-called BLUE
correction (Best Linear Unbiased Estimators, Box et al., 1994) one can estimate the design
value of the pressure coefficients. These last, called cp, design are estimated as the pressure
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Fig. 9. View of the distribution of the cp design value for the Karaiskaki stadium: max (left) and min (right)
values.

coefficient values which, in the extreme values distribution, have the probability to be
exceeded of 22% (Fig. 9).

4. Artificial wind load generation

During the experiments mentioned above, normal pressures have been measured and
therefore frictional effects have been neglected in subsequent analyses.
As in both experiments the number and the position of pressure taps were different than
the nodes of the FEM model, the pressure field had to be simulated, on the basis of the
experimental tests, in different locations than those corresponding to the pressure taps.
This task was accomplished by means of a radial basis function (RBF) artificial neural
network (ANN) in the form,
Nj
X
pðx; tÞ ¼ wk ðtÞjk ðxÞ, (5)
k¼1

where wk(t) are time-dependent coefficients and jk(x) are location-dependent RBFs:
 
jjx  cðkÞ jj2
jk ðxÞ ¼ exp  . (6)
s2
The vectors c(k) in Eq. (6) are called the centres of the RBF and s is the decay parameter.
Both are either chosen by the users or optimized during the training of the network.
If ph(t) denotes the measured pressure in the h0 th tap located in x(h), then the training of
the network can be performed imposing that
Nj
!2
XNt X
Nt X
ðtÞ ¼ ðpðxðhÞ ; tÞ  ph ðtÞÞ2 ¼ wk ðtÞjk ðxðhÞ Þ  ph ðtÞ ¼ min: (7)
h¼1 h¼1 k¼1

Satisfaction of condition (7) leads to different sets of equations, described in the

following.
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A first set of equations is obtained by derivation of (7) with respect to the weights wk ðtÞ:
Nj
!
qðtÞ XNt X
¼0)2 wk ðtÞjk ðx Þ  ph ðtÞ jl ðxðhÞ Þ ¼ 0.
ðhÞ
(8)
qwl ðtÞ h¼1 k¼1

This set of equations may be expressed defining the matrix

Fhk ¼ jk ðxðhÞ Þ, (9)
so that its pseudo-inversion gives the weights wk(t):
wðtÞ ¼ ðUt UÞ1 Ut pðtÞ, (10)
where w(t) and p(t) are the vectors whose components are the generic weight wk(t) and the
generic measurement ph(t), respectively.
A second set of equations is obtained by the minimization of the integral of (7) with
respect to the centres c(k) and the decay parameter s:
Z T
ðtÞ dt ¼ min; (11)
0

where T is the length of the simulation. Condition (11) is analogous to the imposition of
Eq. (7) and may be pursued numerically, f.i. by means of a simplex algorithm or a
Levemberg–Marquardt minimization.
It is to be noted that when Nj ¼ Nt, that is the number of RBFs equals the number of
pressure taps, expression (10) reduces to the inversion of matrix U and the network
perfectly interpolates the values of the pressure measurements in the taps of the model.

5. Dynamic response of structures

Here are presented some numerical simulation, via dynamic analysis, performed on the
numerical model of the Karaiskaki stadium and Olympic stadium in Rome. At this time,
the first structure is still under study, so that it is possible to show only preliminarily results
about the dynamic response.

5.1. The Karaiskaki stadium in Pyraeus

The first step is to build a numerical model of the structure, which should be able to
reproduce all the dynamic properties of the real structure. In the case of the Karaiskaki
stadium, a complete numerical model has been developed (1884 nodes, 3741 monodimen-
sional elements and 38 link elements for total 9708 DOFs). Once completed, the numerical
model of the entire structure, including the roof dead weight, a first modal analysis has
been performed in order to extract the main natural frequencies of the structure. The first
one lies at 0.976 Hz (T ¼ 1.085 s), while the second could be found at 1.024 Hz
(T ¼ 0.976 s). Fig. 10 shows the two associated modal shapes: in the first, the uncoupling
of the horizontal displacements between the end of the cantilevered structures and the
internal truss is evidenced. This means that for vertical loads on the roof, as the wind load,
the first significant frequency is the second one.
Once the dynamics property of the structure are determined, pressure time series,
referring to eight wind directions, have been used to evaluate and apply the wind load to
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Fig. 10. Karaiskaki stadium mode shapes: first mode (a) and second mode (b).

the model; this was slightly modified to add some nodes matching the location of the
pressure taps. The velocity scale lV and that of the length lL are:

V m 18 1
lV ¼ ¼ ¼ 0:514; lL ¼ , (12)
Vr 35 250
Vm and Vr indicate, respectively, the average wind velocity at mean roof level for the wind
tunnel model (m) and for the full-scale prototype (r). The frequency scale is given by the
ratio between the velocity scale and the geometry scale:

lV
ln ¼ ffi 129. (13)
lL
While using the similarity Eq. (13), the sampling frequency of 250 Hz in the wind tunnel
corresponds to a frequency of 1.93 Hz in full-scale, so that 30 s of recording in the wind
tunnel correspond to a 64 min long storm, sampled with an interval step of 0.516 s. As
already the first two own vibration frequencies of the structure are around 1 Hz, the
sampling interval is not small enough to dynamically excite the structure. Therefore, a
dynamic analysis performed assuming directly the wind tunnel time histories, would
assume the meaning of a quasi-static analysis. In this case, one shall consider only the
background response of the structure, without considering the resonant response.
To get round this problem, the recourse to the previous simulation procedure has been
made, in order to obtain a suitable wind pressure field with the necessary properties, i.e.,
compatibles with the mechanical model. Therefore a new pressure field has been generated,
in correspondence of some selected nodes of the numerical model, with a total length of
240 s and time interval Dt ¼ 0.02 s which allows to take in account up to the sixteenth roof
modal shape.
During the time history analysis, displacements and forces in correspondence of the
main joints and member, respectively, have been saved, each one consisting of 12,000
samples. The evaluation of maxima and minima for both forces and displacements has
been carried out by means of an analysis of extreme values. First of all, as one can see in
Fig. 11, the first transitory window has been deleted and the following signal has been
subdivided into 10 temporal windows, each one containing 1050 sample points.
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Axial force time history (upper struts leeward)

× 106 Axial force time history (for maxima analysis)
× 106
2 1.9
1.9
1.8
1.8
1.7
1.7
Axial force [N]

Axial force [N]

1.6 1.6

1.5
1.5
1.4
1.4
1.3

1.2 1.3

1.1 1.2
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250
Time [s] Time [s]

Fig. 11. Samples elaboration for the extreme values analysis.

x 106 Maxima analysis

1.85

1.8

1.75

1.7
N

1.65

1.6

1.55
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
ln(ln(p(x)))

Fig. 12. BLUE correction for data in a Gumbel scale. Black circle indicates the design value.

Maxima, or minima, relative to each window, have been reordered placed on a Gumbel
scale (Fig. 12) and finally, by means of a BLUE correction, the design value, maximum or
minimum, has been obtained as the value which, in the distribution of the extreme values,
has a probability of 22% to be overcome, according to the instructions given by Cook and
Mayne and according to the procedure which has been utilized also in the drafting of the
Eurocode 1.
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5.2. The Olympic stadium in Rome

The Olympic stadium in Rome is a particular structure whose new roof was inaugurated
on the occasion of the 1990 world football championship and has a quite unusual and
innovative structural concept: an elliptical form with 307.98 m  237.26 m axes, covering a
68.000 m2 surface (Fig. 1), simply supported at the external boundary by 16 point wise
supports (tubular pillars), more or less regularly spaced, and setting up a constraint unable
to transmit any bending moment to the roof structure, but preventing only vertical
displacements.
As for the structural functionality, one can identify three main elements (Fig. 13): an
external compression ring, with triangular cross-section; 78 radial cable trusses which
overhang as cantilevers from the two internal elements; an internal tension ring, balancing
the compression forces, constituted of twelve cables. Wind tunnel tests have been carried
out at the BLWT of the University of Western Ontario (Canada) on a model with 1:200
scale. The mean wind velocity of the flow was 25 m/s, with varying incoming directions and
the following quantities were measured by means of 170 pressure taps (44 on the inner
surface and 126 on the outer surface of the roof):

 time series of the local pressures for every 101 incoming directions;
 pressure coefficients time series for every 101 incoming directions;

auto and cross spectra of the fluctuating pressure (averaged on every single panel) at the
eight instrumented panels.
A numerical model of the complete structure was developed which is made of 796 beam
elements for the compression ring, 2.320 cable elements for the radial cable trusses, 80
cable elements simulating the inner tension ring and 8 three-dimensional spring elements
simulating the elastic supports at the boundary. Further 800 truss elements simulate the
stiffening of the roofing panels suspended on the radial cable trusses. The complete model
reaches 5.845 DOFs (Fig. 14).
The simulation of the wind velocity field has been performed by simulating 91 cross-
correlated time series of the wind velocity. In a first phase, a field of multi-correlated one-
dimensional time series of the wind loading was artificially generated by means of the
GEWIN computer program, which is able to generate multi-correlated fields of wind
velocity and/or pressure with a given spectral property or auto and cross-correlation. As
already mentioned before, the generation of the load time histories depends on the

Fig. 13. Olympic stadium in Rome: view of the building site (a) and cross section of the roofing structure (b).
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Fig. 14. Olympic stadium in Rome: first mode shape (a) and second mode shape (b).

dynamic properties of the structure (typically the main natural frequencies) so that a modal
analysis is needed before any dynamic analysis (both in time and in frequency domain).
The modal analysis on the Olympic stadium roof delivered the first three main
frequencies, respectively of 0.562, 0.574 and 0.676 Hz. In Fig. 14 only the first two modal
shapes associated with the first two natural frequencies are shown. Numerical simulation
of the structural response was performed under the following hypotheses:

 auto-spectra according to the Davenport’s model;

 across-wind cross-correlation according to the (root) coherence function proposed by
Vickery et al. (1989);
 along-wind correlation according to the Taylor hypothesis;
 pressure coefficient as derived from the values measured in wind tunnel, taking the
extreme values in order to evaluate the heaviest loading condition.

The obtained results show a peak value of the displacement at the inner ring (leeward
side) variable between 1.23 and 1.37 m depending on the wind incidence direction (average:
ffi0.90 m). Fig. 15 shows the time history of the response at the inner tension ring, and the
relevant PSDF.

6. Comfort evaluation

As an example of ‘‘comfort’’ prediction test for the Delle Alpi stadium, a special study
on the local ‘‘climate/ventilation’’ on stands has been carried out. For such a test, a section
model of the stadium has been obtained from the complete one in such way to analyse the
local condition of the flow motion in the zone between stands and roof (Fig. 16).
These aspects can be investigated in the wind tunnel by means of the well-known particle
image velocimetry (PIV) technique, which allows to characterize vortex structures near
stands by means of an evaluation of the velocity field displayed on a grid over the
investigated plane area (red area in Fig. 16).
The definition of a wind velocity based comfort scale, with respect to the incoming wind
velocity, has been assumed as a basic parameter for the classification as ‘‘comfortable’’ of a
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Fig. 15. Olympic stadium in Rome: time history of the response (a) and PSDF of the response (b).

Fig. 16. Section model used for the PIV visualization technique.

Fig. 17. Streamlines of the mean velocity vectorial map: (a) with the old roof; (b) without the old roof.
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Fig. 18. Mean isovelocity maps (as percentage of Vref ¼ 3.64 m/s): (a) with the old roof and (b) without the old
roof.

particular site. Criteria for the definition of the comfort in pedestrian areas are based on
the frequency of exceedance of fixed limit values of the wind velocity.
Fig. 17 shows the mean vectorial maps of the wind velocity and the corresponding
stream lines for the two analysed configurations: with and without the old roofing system.
The map of the mean velocity isolines (percentage values), which can be multiplied for
the design velocity in order to obtain the resulting map of the actual velocity, is shown in
Fig. 18. The choice of the design velocity is often done in function of the performance level
to be reached.
In the case of the Delle Alpi stadium, a reference wind velocity (Vm ¼ Vr, with Vm
velocity in wind tunnel and Vr velocity at full-scale) at the roof level of Vref ¼ 3.64 m/s has
been assumed and the motion fields have been recorded obtaining the corresponding
isovelocity maps, in percentage of the Vref. With these maps, once the incoming design
velocity value has been chosen, it becomes possible to detect critical zones of discomfort.

7. Conclusions

Large roofs in sports plants are usually very challenging and wind sensitive structures,
which need a careful analysis predicting wind loads and dynamic response. Difficulties
arise most commonly due to the high uncertainty of the aerodynamic behaviour, so that
wind tunnel tests are the only approach allowing a suitable prediction of the actual wind
induced velocities/pressures over the whole structure. The paper has shown how these
predictive analyses can be meaningful and worthwhile, on the hand of a few recent
important applications. The fact that uncertainties in the dynamic behaviour are
drastically reduced makes all involved ‘‘parties’’ (designers, investors and builders
responsible) much more confident in the ‘‘decision making’’ process.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
P. Biagini et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 95 (2007) 871–887 887

Acknowledgements

This paper has arisen from the expertise collected during the research contracts awarded
to CRIACIV by some of the relevant project Responsible. The authors wish to thank all
Contractors for the support; the contribution of the MIUR within the PRIN-2003/05
National Research projects is also gratefully acknowledged.

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