Correlation of wind load combinations including torsion on medium-rise buildings

Three common medium- rise building forms were physically tested to study their overall wind induced structural response. Emphasis was placed on the torsional response and its correlation with other peak responses. A higher correlation was found between the peak responses than between the general fluctuating parts of the signals. This suggests a common mechanism causing the peak event, and that this mechanism is potentially different to the mechanism causing the general load fluctuations. The measurements show that about 80% of the peak overall torsion occur simultaneously with the peak overall along wind drag for some generic building shapes. However, the peak torsional response occurs simultaneously with only 30%-40% of the peak overall drag for the rectangular model. These results emphasise the importance of load combinations for building design, which are often neglected in the design of medium sized rigid buildings for which the along-wind drag is dominant. Current design wind loading standards from around the world were evaluated against the results to establish their adequacy for building design incorporating wind-induced torsion effects. Although torsion is frequently neglected, for some structural systems it may become more important.