|
Abstract
> This seminar will describe a number of current research projects
> underway at the University of Birmingham in England, to investigate
> the unsteady wind loading on a variety of "structures". In particular
> the following projects will be briefly described.
>
> (a) Unsteady wind loading on low rise structures. An investigation
> of how unsteady wind loads are transmitted through the cladding and
> frames of structures will be described, and the development of
> analytical tools necessary to investigate these effects will be
> presented.
(b) Unsteady wind loads on road and rail vehicles. Fluctuating wind
> loads can lead to large unsteady aerodynamic forces on road and rail
> vehicles, which can result in these vehicles being blown over. Full
> scale and model scale experiments to measure these forces will be
> described, and an analytical framework for the calculation of wheel
> unloading will be presented.
(c) Unsteady wind loads on roadside obstacles. Obstacles at the road
> side such as traffic signs etc, experience different types of loading
> due to the wind itself and due to the slipstreams and pressure
> transients caused by passing traffic. Full scale and model scale
> investigations into these effects will be described.
> (d) Unsteady wind loads on trees. The failure of trees in high winds
> can result in significant disruption to traffic and electricity
> supplies. Recent work in this area will be described, which has
> utilised both field experiments and the development of analytical
> models.
|