Welcome to the
NatHaz Gust-Front Factor website.
The purpose of this website is to introduce
A New Gust-Front Factor Framework to quantify the load effects on structures caused by
gust-front winds
and to provide user with a web-based on-line analysis framework of Gust-front Factor approach.
In comparison with atmospheric boundary-layer winds, which are customarily treated as stationary,
gust-front winds such as a
thunderstorm/downburst exhibit strong nonstationarity.
In storms characterized by a gust-front, wind speed changes rapidly during a short time period.
In order to realistically describe attendant loads effects, a new analysis framework is presented which is named the
gust-front factor approach.
The gust-front factor, akin to the gust loading factor in boundary-layer winds which has world-wide acceptance in codes and standards,
is introduced and can be utilized in conjunction with the existing design standards.
The gust-front factor based approach encapsulates both
static and dynamic characteristics of gust-front wind effects on structures
through the following features that distinguish them from conventional boundary-layer flows:
variation in the vertical velocity profile; dynamic effects induced by the sudden rise in wind speed;
nonstationarity of turbulence in gust-front wind; transient aerodynamics.
The proposed gust-front factor based analysis framework lays the foundation for the analysis of structures
under gust-front winds, which is akin to the gust loading factor in conventional winds.
It can conveniently tailored for design standards other than ASCE 7.
It is anticipated that it would experience further refinements over time similar to the many subsequent developments
in the conventional gust loading factor. For immediate design applications,
this framework is available in this
web-based portal which will offer the flexibility of studying several loading configurations
without actually becoming involved with the details of the computations,
making it independent of the technical background of the user (
Kwon and Kareem 2007).
ENTER NATHAZ GUST-FRONT FACTOR
