Computational Wind Analysis of a Closed Air-Inflated Membrane

Membrane structures are becoming increasingly popular as a solution for covering large spans. Their versatility and short construction time make them an economical solution for temporary or permanent structures. During the structural analysis, the wind effects must be highly considered; however, because of their unique architectural shape, the pressure coefficients are not provided in the design codes. The current paper introduces the wind analysis of an air-inflated membrane structure. The pressure distribution on the external surface of the structure was determined for different wind directions by Computational Fluid Dynamics. The research included mesh sensitivity analysis and the evaluation of different turbulence models. Previous wind tunnel test results validated the numerical simulations. The experimentally and numerically determined pressure coefficient fields and the resulting respective membrane forces and displacements are compared. The presented results show that the CWE analysis can provide a suitable approximation of the WT-based results from a structural point of view. After validation, the numerical model was extended to similar structures with various lengths. The presented results can be used directly in the structural analysis of similarly shaped inflated membranes.