Uncertainty Quantification and Dynamic Response of Buildings and Tower Structures under Stationary and Non-stationary Wind Loads

Luca Caracoglia

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

lucac@coe.neu.edu

Date: Friday January 15^th, 2:30-4:30 pm (CET), 8:30-10:30am (EST)

Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3a864f3dfe8993442ca116fe24bd231662%40thread.tacv2/1610092407076?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%226e6ade15-296c-4224-ac58-1c8ec2fd53a8%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%226d036117-bf26-4ee2-95fa-124ff7fb3f76%22%7d

Abstract: This presentation will review recent study activities examining the response of slender, vertical structures under the effects of destructive wind loads. These large-period, low-damping structures are sensitive to fluid-structure interaction and susceptible to damage induced by wind loads. The common feature of the research is the quantification of uncertain wind loads, associated with both stationary synoptic winds and localized, nonstationary events. The former are typical of large extra-tropical depressions and tropical cyclonic phenomena (at a scale of several hundred kilometers); the latter include thunderstorm downbursts and tornadoes (less than one kilometer in diameter). The research activities have been devoted to the examination of several methodologies for predicting the structural response by accounting for modeling uncertainty and measurement “errors”, e.g. loads evaluated by wind tunnel tests. The investigated methods are both analytical (stochastic calculus) and numerical (Monte-Carlo sampling). The ultimate goal of the research is the evaluation of wind-related damage over time in the context of risk analysis.

This presentation will include characterization of the dynamic response through multi-variable probability density functions and examination of lifecycle wind-related damage through intervention cost analysis. Examples will consider interactions on the envelope of tall buildings under various wind load scenarios and aeroelastic vibration causing damages primarily to nonstructural elements. The results will demonstrate that it is possible to predict the structural response and its consequences, even in the presence of large modeling and experimental load variability, provided that uncertainty propagation is extended to all the stages of structural analysis. These stages should possibly consider wind field simulation, wind-pressure load assessment and fluid-structure interaction.

Bio-sketch: Luca Caracoglia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He joined Northeastern University in 2005. Prior to this appointment, he was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Civil Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland (USA) in 2001-2002 and a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign, USA) in 2002-2004. He received his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of Trieste, Italy in 2001. His interests are in structural dynamics, random vibration, wind engineering, fluid-structure interaction of civil engineering structures, nonlinear cable network dynamics, energy harvesting systems in wind energy. Luca Caracoglia received the NSF-CAREER Award for young investigators in 2009. Luca Caracoglia was elected Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2020.