Wind Load of a Curved Circular Cylinder Structures

摘要

The paper presents the way of estimating the wind force acting on straight or curved elements with circular cross-section. These elements can be positioned at any angle to the wind direction. They may also be bent into the form of a torus or a helix, laid horizontally or sloped. The first part of the article briefly presents the results of the air flow computer simulations. The second part of the study shows the analytical approach to the problem, solved by decomposition of the wind velocity vector to the normal, binormal and tangent components, estimation of the pressure distribution around the elements cross-section and finally integration of the pressure over the whole surface. Because there were significant differences between the data obtained from the analytical and numerical method, some empirical correction functions had to be attached to the analytical equations. The last part consists of the engineering applicable advices, presented in the form of a table of coefficients.