Performance-based design of high-rise buildings using synoptic and non-synoptic wind profiles: economy, safety, and reduction of carbon emissions

• Grant number: 23/05195-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: August 01, 2023
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Civil Engineering - Structural Engineering
• Principal Investigator: André Teófilo Beck
• Grantee: Luis Gustavo Lopes Costa
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Nowadays, the design process of wind-excited buildings is based on design codes and standards that are mostly prescriptive in nature. This approach limits the flexibility and creativity of the engineer by focusing on a prescribed range of materials or methods chosen to meet the design criteria, which stands in the way of solutions that may be more cost-effective. In contrast, the performance-based wind engineering approach reverses the design process by focusing on broader measurable levels of performance requirements that the building is required to attain instead of explicitly specifying how it is to be designed and constructed, thus giving more freedom to the designer. However, while the performance-based design of wind-excited structures, particularly of high-rise buildings, has seen an increased research interest over the past two decades, most of the progress that has been made is focused on synoptic-scale winds that form the basis of most of the current-day wind-resistant design codes, with little attention being given to non-synoptic phenomena such as tornadoes and thunderstorm downbursts. These types of extreme wind events are particularly important in mixed-climate regions such as Brazil, where a good portion of the territory is prone to intense convective activity. The proposed research project aims to address this gap by employing the Performance-Based Wind Design (PBWD) methodology in the design of high-rise buildings subjected to both synoptic and non-synoptic winds. Separate consideration will be given to these different types of phenomena by taking advantage of data recently gathered where extreme wind events in Brazil were classified according to their type to support a revision of the Brazilian design code NBR 6123 [ Wind load on buildings. Separate site-specific wind hazard and fragility curves of the structure will be constructed, and the performance will be characterized as the exceedance probability of different limit states. It is expected that, as a consequence of using a more rational design procedure and exploring the different characteristics of synoptic and non-synoptic winds, more cost-efficient and sustainable solutions can be found when compared to the traditional prescriptive design approach. Thus, the proposed research has practical applications in the design of wind-excited buildings in mixed climates. (AU)