Design Spectra for Evaluating the Dynamic Response of Buildings Under Thunderstorm Downbursts

This paper presents a spectral method to determine the effect of thunderstorm downbursts on structures. The method integrates the dynamic response of single oscillators subject to input accelerations induced by wind, based on classical earthquake engineering theory and the proper characterisation of turbulence. The method validates previous works on synoptic wind, enabled to conduct a parametric analysis to scrutinise its dependence on outflow gust velocity, mechanical and dynamical properties of the structure, and variations in the damping ratio and terrain categories. The design spectra for thunderstorm downbursts were used to estimate the dynamic performance of a high-rise building and the results obtained showed consistency with separate numerical approaches. The proposed method offers an alternative for the rapid and effective evaluation of structural performance under thunderstorm downbursts and could expand to cover other wind environments.