Analysis of Extreme Winds Methods for Calculate Basic Velocities

Abstract

Determination of wind loads has a special significance on structural design. These loads have as a basic point the wind basic velocity obtained through a statistic analysis of extreme values. Methods and  mainly factors to estimate this basic velocity have been the objective of many investigations along the last 5 de-cades, with an improvement of estimated values by including years of data, wind directions, types of wind sources, etc. At Cuban territory, where the wind action is the main load to be considered in most of  civil constructions, and since the factor of mixed climate could introduce variations on wind extreme velocity estimations the actualization of conventional methods has an special significance. This article describes methods in estimation of wind basic velocities and their evolution through the last decades. At the same time, a review of the applications of methods in some of the most relevant standards and wind codes for hurricanes zones is made and compared with the cuban code of wind action on structures. The main conclusion achieved is the requirement of actualization of cuban code NC 285:2003 according the most recent developments on this field.