Doctoral Dissertations

Zhi Li

Keywords and Phrases

Bridge; CFD simulation; Gable-roofed building; Straight-line winds; Tornadic winds

Abstract

“Tornadoes are violent natural hazards that could caused significant property loss and fatalities. Statistical data indicates that most fatalities during tornado incidents were caused by the building failure under tornadoes. For example, in the 2011 Joplin Tornado, 161 people were killed, and 84 percent of the fatalities were related to the failure of buildings. In addition, most of the significant, tornado-induced property loss and fatalities are relevant to the tornadoes passing through the densely populated regions. Besides buildings, bridges were also severely damaged or destroyed by tornadoes in the United States. To reduce the tornado-induced loss, it is imperative to properly determine the tornado-induced wind effects on buildings and bridges and modify the wind pressure equations in the current design codes (ASCE7-16 for buildings and AASHTO for bridges). To achieve this objective, in this study, Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations are employed to systematically investigate the wind effects on buildings and bridges induced by tornadic winds and their equivalent straight-line winds. First, tornado- induced wind effects on the single building and the building of interest located in a community are investigated and compared. Then, the wind effects on the building of interest caused by tornadic winds and their equivalent straight-line winds are extracted and compared. Next, the comparison of wind effects on bridges under tornadic winds and their equivalent straight-line winds are investigated. Finally, by comparing the wind effects on buildings, the current wind pressure equations in ASCE7-16 are properly modified to facilitate the tornado-resistant design for buildings. The same procedure is applied to modify the wind pressure equations in AASHTO for bridges”--Abstract, page iv.

Advisor(s)

Yan, Guirong Grace

Committee Member(s)

Chen, Genda
Ma, Hongyan
Sneed, Lesley
Han, Daoru Frank

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Civil Engineering

Comments

The authors thank the Mid-America Transportation Center, National Science Foundation and NOAA/OAR Office of Weather and Air Quality [award number NA20OAR4590452] for their support of our research.

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Summer 2021

Journal article titles appearing in thesis/dissertation

  • Proper Determination of Designing Tornadic Wind Loading on Civil Structures
  • Influence of a Community of Buildings on Tornadic Wind Fields
  • Investigation of Wind Effects on Bridges Induced by Tornadoes F or Tornado-Resistant Design
  • Investigation of Tornadic Wind Effects on a Cable-Stayed Bridge for Guidance on Design Tornadic Wind Loading

Pagination

xvii, 156 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographic references.

Rights

© 2021 Zhi Li, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 11908

Electronic OCLC #

1286684376

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