In recent years, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as powerful storms and high wind phenomena have increased significantly due to climate change. These evolving climatic patterns pose serious challenges to modern architecture, especially lightweight structures like tensile membrane surfaces. As urban environments grow denser and weather changes unpredictability, understanding how such structures respond to dynamic wind loads becomes essential for resilient and sustainable design.
The impact of Storm Eunice across the northwestern and northern areas of Central Europe underscores the vulnerability of lightweight structures, particularly those utilizing tensile membrane surfaces, to extreme wind events. Iconic examples like the Millennium Dome designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership and Imagination symbolize modern architecture with their innovative, lightweight canopy systems aligned to celestial paths. This study delves into how wind loads from severe storms progressively damage such tensile structures, focusing on four distinct phases of surface deterioration [1].
The current research [1] further investigates how surrounding urban structures, like the Aura Tower, influence local wind behavior; specifically, amplifying wind speeds and suction pressures in the range of 45 to 55 m/s, which can induce significant structural harm. Through CFD simulations and detailed pressure coefficient analysis, the study reveals that urban planning and environmental factors must be carefully integrated into the design of TMS to ensure resilience against dynamic wind environments.
The findings strongly suggest that neighboring high-rise developments can severely exacerbate the wind loading on lightweight tensile membranes, making them prone to progressive tearing, membrane fluttering, and eventual catastrophic failure. The necessity of incorporating turbulence models and accurate environmental load estimations into both architectural and civil engineering design processes is emphasized. These insights aim to contribute to the future-proofing of tensile membrane applications in increasingly dense urban landscapes, especially under the growing threat of climate change and more frequent extreme weather events.
