Determination of basic mean hourly wind speeds for structural design in Nairobi county
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Date
2014Author
Ong’ayo, E.O
Mwea, S.K.
Abuodha, S.O.
Language
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Structural
Engineers should be able to
accurately
predict
all loads affecting structures.
Consideration of wind
loads is very important in the
s
tructural design especially in the design of high rise structures.
This, among
accurate prediction of other loads affectin
g a structure
,
ensures
safe and economic design of structures.
Kenyan structural engineers depend on basic wind speeds which were determined over 30 years ago. It is
important to periodically review the wind speeds
. This is because the wind speeds experienced could change due
to changes in land use like deforestation to give way
for infrastructure
among other causes.
Most structures are usually designed for a life period of 50 yrs, thus the basic wind speed will hav
e a return
period of 50 years.
The objective of this paper is to provide the basic wind speed which will be used to design building structures
in
Nairobi.
Wind data was taken from 8 meteorological stations within and around Nairobi County. Terrain and altitude
correction factors were also determined for all the meteorological stations.
These correction factors were
multiplied to wind speeds measured at anemo
meter sites to
obtain
the design wind speeds for a standard open
country terrain and standard elevation.
This data was then analyzed stati
sti
cally using Gumbel method to determine the basic wind speed, from which
wind pressure affecting a typical structur
e can be calculated.
Citation
Ong’ayo E.O., S.K. M, S.O A. "Determination of basic mean hourly wind speeds for structural design in Nairobi County." International Journal of Engineering Sciences & Emerging Technologies . 2014;Vol 7 (Issue 2 ).Publisher
University of Nairobi