Interference effects on the wind loads and wind-induced responses of parallel-arranged rectangular-planed air-supported membrane structures

In many practical projects, two air-supported membrane structures are parallel-arranged. The interference effects of parallel-arranged rectangular-planed air-supported membrane structures are important in the wind-resistant design. In order to address this issue, the wind pressures on isolated and parallel-arranged structures are obtained through pressure measurement wind tunnel tests. The wind-induced responses are calculated via nonlinear dynamic time–history analysis. Consequently, the interference effects on wind loads and wind-induced responses are analyzed. The results show that the wind suctions of downstream structures are amplified by the interferences of parallel-arranged structures particularly under oblique wind directions. The mean wind loads on the most disturbed zone are amplified up to about 65 %. The interference characteristics of wind-induced displacement are basically similar to mean wind loads. The membrane stresses and cable forces are significantly interfered only in oblique wind directions, which are amplified up to about 15 % in all zones of downstream structures. The strongest interference effects can be observed with a spacing-span ratio of 0.2 when the wind direction is oblique or parallel to the gap between neighboring structures. The interference factors for zones are provided to analyze the interference characteristics. In addition, recommendation values of the overall response interference factors are summarized for design reference. The overall response interference factors for displacement, membrane stress, and cable force should be considered as 1.21, 1.33, and 1.20, respectively.