Influence of tapered cross section on fatigue damage of cladding fasteners on side faces of tall buildings

An appropriate choice of building shape and architectural modifications can result in the reduction of motion by altering the flow pattern around a building. Tapering which is one of aerodynamic devices has been known to be effective to reduce acrosswind response [1, 2]. The exterior wind loading patterns on claddings are sensitive to the building shape. When a building has a tapered cross section along the height, the influence of the exterior wind loading patterns on the wind-induced high-cycle fatigue damage of the cladding fastener of the tapered building needs to be found. In this study, the fatigue damage of the cladding fastener of a non-tapered building and two tapered buildings is estimated by using the rainflow cycle counting method and Miner's rule. The fatigue damage is compared with one another in order to investigate the influence of the tapered cross section on the fatigue damage of cladding fasteners on side faces of tall buildings.