Conversion of Wind Speeds to Various Averaging Times Based on 176 Codes and Standards for Wind-resistant Design of Buildings

Abstract

The possibility of inconsistencies among reference wind speeds in national border areas has been discussed at Workshops on Regional Harmonization of Wind Loading and Wind Environmental Specifications in Asia-Pacific Economies (APEC-WW). To identify the details of this issue, this study explores a unified approach for reasonably comparing reference wind speeds. First, we review an approach applied to averaging time conversions of wind speeds, in which the statistical distribution of the maxima of a stationary random function is derived. Next, we examine turbulence spectra and scales in 176 codes and standards around the world. Then, we compute peak factors for obtaining wind speeds with various averaging times, applying 11 combinations of turbulence spectra and sampling lengths, and confirm reasonable results in comparisons with those obtained in previous studies. Finally, we discuss some practical considerations in conversions and comparisons of reference wind speeds through some practical application examples.