Dynamic characteristics and wind-induced responses of a super-tall building during typhoons

This paper presents the field measurement results of dynamic characteristics and wind-induced responses of a 420 m high tall building in Hong Kong during the passage of typhoons. The field data such as wind speed, wind direction, acceleration and displacement responses were simultaneously and continuously recorded from a monitoring system installed in the super-tall building. The outputs of accelerometers and GPS mounted in the building are compared to examine the accuracy of the GPS. The multipath effects are extracted by a combination of Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) and wavelet method, and then are removed by a high pass finite impulsive response (FIR) digital filter to improve the performance of the GPS. After obtaining the accurate GPS's data, the resonant and background responses of the super-tall building as well as their contributions to the total displacements are presented and discussed. Finally, damping ratios of the building are evaluated by the random decrement technique, which demonstrate amplitude-dependent characteristics. The outcomes of this study are expected to be of interest and practical use to engineers and researchers who are involved in the wind-resistant design or structural health monitoring of super-tall buildings. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.