Computational evaluation of wind loads on structures

Resumo

The verticalization of buildings in large cities has been a growing trend in recent decades due to the
advancement in technology and construction materials, which have allowed the construction of taller and more
slender buildings and, therefore, more sensitive to aerodynamic loads. These loads are usually determined by
aerodynamic coefficients that are traditionally obtained through standards or experiments in wind tunnels. Despite
the validity of these methods, standards are invariably limited in architectural complexity and wind tunnels are not
easily accessible, due to their scarcity and high cost. In this perspective, the use of numerical modeling presents
itself as a viable alternative in the aerodynamic study of structures in Computational Wind Engineering. Thus,
this work aims to perform the aerodynamic analysis of structures using numerical modeling and to compare the

aerodynamic coefficients calculated with the Brazilian standard and numerical and experimental data from litera-
ture. Numerical experiments are presented at an increasing level of complexity, from two-dimensional structures

with laminar flow to three-dimensional structures with turbulent flow and two way fluid-structure interaction. The
results obtained are validated with papers published in the scientific literature and demonstrate that the use of
computational modeling in Wind Engineering guarantees an acceptable level of accuracy.