Closed form prediction of the alongwind-induced fatigue of structures.

Wind‐induced fatigue is a crucial topic in the design of wind‐sensitive structures. In spite of this, methods proposed in literature are mainly addressed to research, or they are too much simplified for engineering applications. Thus, suitable engineering and standards procedures are almost totally lacking, this being a major shortcoming in structural and wind engineering. Starting from a closed form solution recently proposed by authors, this paper develops a novel engineering approach to evaluate the alongwind‐induced fatigue of structures and structural elements. This approach is based on a hierarchy of hypotheses that lead to a progressive simplification of the basic formulation. Two classes of formulae, referred to as the I and II level closed form solutions (CFS) are obtained and critically discussed with special concern for input parameters. The I level CFS implies three further simplifications joined together by the common aim of providing refined approximations of the reference target solution. The II level CFS implies three different simplifications joined together by the common aim of providing easy solutions on the safe side. This set of CFS are framed within a general procedure that any country or any society or any engineer can easily personalize to its own situation and requirement, this ranging from numerical tools up to manual engineering calculations and code provisions.