Research Projects

Wind loading is the governing environmental loading for different structures, competing with earthquake loading. Research on wind flow in hilly terrains began in the early 1970s, focusing on pollutant dispersion, forest fire propagation, and agrometeorological studies. Proper estimation of wind loads on buildings and structures on hill sites can be achieved through understanding topographical effects through experimental analysis. Wind characteristics differ between flat and hilly terrains, requiring a proper understanding of wind flow in hilly terrains and subsequent loading regimes. Structural designers often use standard codal provisions to determine wind loads on buildings, but most codes are silent for structures with irregular shapes. This project proposes conducting wind tunnel investigation for two-dimensional model hills and escarpments with different geometries, measuring mean wind velocity and turbulence intensity profiles. The effects of these topographic elements will be evaluated on buildings of different shapes and heights, including base shears, base moments, average and peak wind pressure coefficients on different faces of the buildings. The wind loads will be evaluated on buildings, creating an extensive database useful to structural design engineers.