Real-time aerodynamics hybrid simulation: Wind-induced effects on a reduced-scale building equipped with full-scale dampers

As buildings are designed to be taller and more slender, they become lighter and more flexible with less inherent damping. If left uncontrolled, excessive wind-induced building response can cause serious safety and serviceability issues. Additional damping provided by adding an auxiliary damping system to the tall building is considered as one of the most cost-effective means to suppress the wind-induced response. Typically, the performance of these damping systems is evaluated experimentally with scaled damper and building models. However, the simplified small-scale dampers may not truly reflect the complex behavior of the full-scale damping systems. To realize the effective reduction of the wind-induced response of tall buildings, a real-time aerodynamics hybrid simulation (RTAHS) methodology that can offer improved response evaluation of a tall building integrated with an auxiliary damping system is introduced in this study. In this novel dynamic testing approach, the accurate evaluation of wind-induced tall building response is achieved by interacting an aeroelastic model of the tall building with the numerical model of the full-scale damper via interfacing actuators during the wind-tunnel tests. The feasibility and simulation accuracy of the proposed dynamic testing technique in the wind tunnel is numerically demonstrated by two case studies involving the wind-induced response reduction of a tall building equipped with both small-scale and full-scale damper properties.