Wind-Induced Dynamic Performance Evaluation of Tall Buildings Considering Future Wind Climate

The ongoing impacts of climate change, driven by both anthropogenic and global warming, significantly influence wind characteristics, resulting in increased wind speeds. Consequently, buildings that currently satisfy safety and serviceability standards may face challenges in the future. Despite extensive studies on wind-induced responses of tall buildings, there is a notable lack of comparative analyses assessing their performance under both historical and projected future wind conditions influenced by climate change. This study investigates the wind-induced performance of a 151 m tall building located in Suzhou, China, employing time history generation based on power spectral density functions. The analysis evaluates the acceleration responses of the building under both historical and projected future wind scenarios across different return periods and compares the responses to identify the potential changes in the building’s performance due to changing wind conditions. The structural acceleration responses are projected to rise significantly under future wind conditions. Furthermore, this study uses a time-domain Monte Carlo simulation framework to conduct a fragility analysis of the case study building, assessing the comfort of human occupants and the likelihood of exceeding performance thresholds under various wind scenarios. The fragility curve for the case study building is plotted for human occupant comfort as a function of mean wind speed. A substantial increase in the building’s fragility concerning occupant comfort is observed. The future wind climate will significantly impact the performance of tall buildings, necessitating proactive measures to address increased wind-induced effects and ensure long-term safety and habitability.