- Author
- Simiu, E. | Stathopoulos, T.
- Title
- Codification of Wind Loads on Buildings Using Bluff Body Aerodynamics and Climatological Data Bases.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Journal
- Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, Vol. 69-71, 497-506, 1997
- Keywords
- wind engineering | bluff bodies | codes | standards | expert systems | structural engineering | structural design | climate | aerodynamics | geometry
- Abstract
- Current data storage and computational capabilities allow the development of a new generation of standards whose provisions on wind loads can be structured as knowledge-based systems drawing the requisite information from large data bases. We show several examples demonstrating that such provisions could be significantly more realistic and risk-consistent than their conventional counterparts, which are of necessity based on reductive formulas, tables and plots. We point out the necessary interaction between development of knowledge-based standard provisions and the acquisition of aerodynamics and wind climatology data. Finally, we suggest that in addition to serving structural designers' needs, knowledge-based standard provisions could serve the insurance industry as certified hazard assessment tools that would be more realistic and dependable than similar tools developed without the benefit of careful public scruntiny and broad professional consensus.