Natural hazards: the importance of wind research

摘要

Wind loading competes with seismic loading as the dominant environmental loading on structures. In New Zealand over the past decade, the total insured damage costs for storms, with severe winds, was about one billion NZD (https://www.icnz.org.nz/). Most wind-loading design applications are concerned with the strongest winds expected in the lifetime of a structure. The establishment of appropriate design wind speeds is a critical first step towards the calculation of design wind loads for structures. All buildings and structures in New Zealand and Australia are designed to resist the effects of the wind speeds specified in the wind-loading standard AS/NZS1170.2 (2011), which has been prepared by a joint Australia/New Zealand committee of relevant stakeholders including engineers and climate experts. However, New Zealand's wind data have not been re-evaluated for purposes of updating the standard for the last 20 years, and this means that the current regional wind speeds for New Zealand in the standard need updating.