Evaluation of Florida Standard Wind Speed Zones for South Florida Hurricane Region

by Michael Howell

Submitted : Spring 2021

Design wind pressures for structural elements in common building orientations are derived from regional standards based on local climatic observations and varying topographical factors (Williams, 2018). It is theorized that wind speed zones in Florida and nationwide are surprisingly inexact and misrepresentative unless a project location exists in close proximity to wind zone contour lines. This project will formulate a methodology to identify precise maximum 3-second wind gusts at a particular location using observed data points and regional standards as a baseline. It will similarly provide an analysis of variation between wind design pressures calculated using standard regional wind gusts vs approximated wind-speed gusts via the proposed method.

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