Transient simulations of wind loads on straight and twisted buildings

A numerical research of wind loads on straight and twisted towers is presented in this paper. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method is used to simulate wind action on building. Shear Stress Transport (SST) model is adopted for transient simulations, as a compromise between computational cost and accuracy. Numerical results obtained in this work demonstrate a significant benefit of twisted building in reducing cross wind loads. When wind flows over a straight tower, vortexes form and shed in cycle with a constant frequency in the wake. The resulting cyclic cross wind load will cause significant vibration of building. By twisting a high-rise building the vortex shedding is confused, and hence the harmful cross wind load effects are avoided.