![]() VORTEX-Winds, Virtual Organization for Reducing the Toll of EXtreme Winds, aims at a cyber-based data-enabled virtual organization for wind load effects on civil infrastructures since 2007. It offers a new paradigm of a multi-scale cyber based laboratory framework for the analysis/design, modeling and simulation of wind load effects. This collaborative framework as it evolves would enable a paradigm shift by offering advanced cyber-enabled modules (e-modules) for accelerating advances in research and education to achieve improved understanding and better modeling of wind effects on structures. We are sorry that VORTEX-Winds is currently under maintenance but its e-modules are temporarily provided in the following: |
NatHaz Aerodynamic Loads Database (NALD)since 2000 (v1), 2004 (v2)The NALD serves as a web-based on-line computational framework for use in the preliminary design of high-rise buildings subjected to wind loads utilizing experimental archives of base bending moments spectra obtained from high frequency base balance. It offers building response estimates, i.e., base moments; top level displacements & accelerations, and equivalent static wind loads (ESWL). An additional feature of NALD implemented in the version 2.0 is the flexibility its analysis module offers (On-line Design menu): users may select not only the data from the on-line NatHaz aerodynamic loads database, but also may input desired power spectral density (PSD) expression or wind tunnel-derived PSD data set from HFBB test experiment. ![]() NatHaz On-line Wind Simulator (NOWS)since 2005The NOWS provides on-line simulation of two-dimensional (2-D) multivariate Gaussian wind fields on-the-fly, which enables user to simulate stationary random wind fields made possible by the Internet-enabled system and general web browser owing to rapid development of Internet/Information technologies. ![]() NatHaz Gust Front Factor Framework (GFF)since 2006The GFF framework encapsulates both the kinematic and dynamic features of non-stationary gust-front induced wind effects on structures which distinguish themselves from those experienced in conventional boundary layer flows. To facilitate expeditious utilization of this framework in design practice and inclusion in codes and standards, the analysis framework is introduced within a web-based portal to eliminate the need for an in-depth understanding of the background and the need for associated computational effort. ![]() VORTEX-Winds Wind Simulation (VOWS)since 2009The VOWS enables on-line simulation of three-dimensional (3-D) multivariate Gaussian wind fields on-the-fly, which enables user to simulate stationary random wind fields made possible by the Internet-enabled system and general web browser owing to rapid development of Internet/Information technologies. This research has been made through the collaboration between NatHaz Modeling Lab. (Univ. of Notre Dame, USA) and Dr. Luigi Carassale (Univ. of Genoa, Italy) ![]() Database-Enabled Design Module for High-Rise Buildings (DEDM-HR)since 2009The DEDM-HR provides tools for the preliminary design of high-rise buildings subjected to wind loads utilizing multiple experimental archives of high frequency base balance (HFBB) data, similar to NALD given above. As a result of collaboration between NatHaz Modeling Lab. (Univ. of Notre Dame, USA) and WERC-TKU (Tamkang Univ., Taiwan), the DEDM-HR offers data that pools information from both resources supporting multiple databases, thus expending the range of building configurations and exposures. ![]() Damping Databasesince 2010The Damping database is an initiative to provide users with on-line damping information for various full-scale building structures in terms of a query-based database module. The query parameters include not only building information such as cross-sectional shapes, widths, depths and heights but also test excitations, damping estimation methods, ranges of damping ratios etc. This database is currently established with the Japanese damping data sets (AIJ 2000; Satake et al. 2003), but it is anticipated that the contents will be expanded with other damping datasets in the future. ![]() DEDM-HR for International Codes (DEDM-HR-INT)since 2011Based on the above DEDM-HR, the DEDM-HR-INT embeds a novel feature that allows the use of wind characteristics defined in a code/standard to be used in conjunction with the database. This supplements the provisions of a specific code/standard as in many cases guidance on the acrosswind and torsional response estimates is lacking. This provision enhances the scope of the DEDM-HR in providing an alternative design tool with nested general provisions of various international codes and standards. ![]() DEDM for Low-Rise Buildings (DEDM-LR)since 2012This DEDM-LR provides the estimation of the wind-induced responses for main wind force resisting frames of low-rise buildings by making direct use of pressure time histories measured at a large number of pressure taps over a suite of building models. These responses may be considered in lieu of code-specified load effects in which the overall accuracy may be influenced by the inherent simplifications in codes. Presently, the DEDM-LR hosts an aerodynamic database developed by the Tokyo Polytechnic University (TPU), Japan for a variety of building configurations like flat, gable, and hip roofs under suburban terrain flow condition with immediate application to other databases. ![]() DEDM for High-Rise Buildings with Pressure Data (DEDM-HRP)since 2012The DEDM-HRP has been developed for an effective treatment of a large synchronous pressure measurement (SPM) datasets within the concept of a cyber-based Database-enabled design framework. It addresses the management of synchronously measured pressures and their reduction to global loads, which is often a daunting task due to the large amount of data information involving highly-sampled time histories by its experimental nature. The DEDM-HRP currently hosts a publicly available Tokyo Polytechnic University (TPU) aerodynamic database for a variety of building configurations for side and aspect ratios and various wind directions for each test model to account for directional effects of winds. However, the e-module can be easily expanded to host multiple SPM databases similar to DEDM-HR. This framework is based on a time domain treatment of the random vibration and uses a minimal set of easily obtainable parameters as input such as wind speed, natural frequencies and mode shapes of a target building etc., which the user can interact with user-friendly web interfaces ![]() Performance-based DED for Occupant Comfort (PBDED-OC)since 2013The PBDED-OC is a cyberbased probabilistic framework for the performance-based design of high-rise buildings for occupant comfort. The performance is expressed in terms of the probability that the fraction of people on a target floor that perceive the motion exceeds a chosen value, given a mean recurrence interval (MRI) for the wind event. In addition to the random perception threshold characterizing each individual occupant, other uncertainties affecting the structural response have been included concerning the wind speed, the modal characteristics of the structure and the use of wind tunnel tests (in particular, HFBB tests), taking advantage of probabilistic models that can be found in the literature. Fully in accordance with the principles of performance-based design, the proposed framework provides the designer with a flexible tool for the description of the structural performance, where the acceptable probability of exceedance can be chosen by a team of decision-makers (designers, building owner, tenants etc.) depending on the peculiarities of the structure, and is seen as an alternative to the use of prescriptive approaches, which are instead based on a simple comparison between demand and capacity and do not provide any information on the reliability of the structure. ![]() Damping estimation using the VDS, the EVDS, and the SSBMD (VDS-Damping)since 2018The VDS-Damping was primarily designed for the output-only damping estimation with data on-demand and on-the-fly, facilitating expeditious and convenient utilization through user-friendly web interfaces and embedded schemes. The web-enabled framework houses three schemes such as the virtual dynamic shaker (VDS), the enhanced VDS (EVDS), and the state space based mode decomposition (SSBMD). The VDS and the EVDS are output-only system identification (SI) schemes, especially for the purpose of the damping estimation with the added advantage of their basic simplicity. The SSBMD is an effective mode decomposition scheme for multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) data made in a state space, thus the VDS-Damping can also be served as a mode decomposition tool. ![]() DEDM for interference effects (DEDM-HRP-INTF)since 2021The DEDM-HRP-INTF has been developed for examining interference effects of two adjacent/neighboring buildings. The DEDM-HRP-INTF currently hosts a Tokyo Polytechnic University (TPU) aerodynamic database with the courtesy of Dr. Yukio Tamura. Currently, it consists of three neighboring buildings with a variety of neighboring building locations, however, it would be expanded to host more dataset. ![]() |
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Kareem, A. and Kwon, D. K. (2017). "A Cyber-Based Data-Enabled Virtual Organization for Wind Load Effects on Civil Infrastructures: VORTEX-Winds." Frontiers in Built Environment, 3, 1-32. [Link] [PDF] |