MS49 Performance/Risk/Resiliency-Based Wind Engineering

Assistant Prof. Seymour M.J. Spence: smjs@umich.edu

Session Chairs:
Seymour M.J. Spence, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, smjs@umich.edu
Ahsan Kareem, Robert M. Moran Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA, kareem@nd.edu

Abstract of the special session:
Performance-based Wind Engineering (PBWE), and more in general risk/resiliency-based wind design, is becoming an area of ever growing importance within the realm of wind assessment of structures. The fundamental shift from component-level prescriptive approaches to probabilistic system-level performance/risk/resiliency-based design approaches has the potential to significantly reduce the huge annual losses that communities throughout the world suffer at the hands of events such as hurricanes, tornados and thunderstorm downbursts. While the benefits of PBWE are well understood, there are still many computational and theoretical issues that require addressing before this approach can become reality and start significantly shifting wind engineering practices.
This session will bring together researchers and practitioners who work in this domain. Areas of interest, among others, are: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and its role in estimating all aspects of probabilistic building performance (i.e. structural and non-structural performance); probabilistic characterization of the response of non-linear wind-excited systems; habitability and human comfort issues; vulnerability modeling of low-rise buildings; probabilistic and computational wind-borne debris models; non-stationary wind modeling; probabilistic and computational wind-driven rain models; and extreme wind hazard modeling including mixed climates. Contributions addressing theoretical and computational developments, numerical algorithms and practical applications and welcome. The session will provide an opportunity for researchers, academics, and practicing engineers active in these topical areas to share their experience and latest research results.