Journal of Wind Engineering

and Industrial Aerodynamics 83 (1999) 555}566

Wind loading standards and design criteria
in Japan
Yukio Tamura*, Takeshi Ohkuma, Hisashi Okada,
Jun Kanda
Department of Architecture, Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics, 1583 Iiyama, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan
Department of Architecture, Kanagawa University, Rokakubashi, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Department of Structural Engineering, BRI, Ministry of Construction, Tatehara 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Department of Architecture, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Abstract
This paper introduces the Building Standard Law of Japan and the BCJ Recommendations
for Structural Safety for Wind. Both are o$cial documents published by the government or its
agency. It then introduces the AIJ Recommendations for Loads on Buildings and AIJ Guide-
lines for the Evaluation of Habitability to Building Vibration. These two documents are not
o$cial ones, and designers are not bound by them. Finally, the BCJ Guidebook on Wind
Tunnel Experiments for Building Engineers is introduced as a manual relevant to wind-
resistant design of buildings. 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Building code; Wind load; Design wind speed; Habitability; Wind tunnel testing
1. Introduction
When a building is planned, the owner must submit an application for con"rmation
that the plan conforms to the Building Standard Law (BSL) of Japan as well as
Enforcement Orders and Noti"cations from the Ministry of Construction on various
points including structural safety. The necessary approved documents for construc-
tion have to be prepared by a licensed building engineer.
For buildings higher than 60 m or those designed using new design methods,
materials, and technologies, the validity of the structural design must be appraised by
* Corresponding author.
0167-6105/99/$- see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 6 7 - 6 1 0 5 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 1 0 1 - 4
the Committee on Structural Safety at the Building Center of Japan (BCJ), which is
authorized by the Minister of Construction to perform this work. Although they
cannot ignore the BSL, designers can use any method if it is approved by the
committee.
The Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) has published a lot of design guides,
design manuals, and recommendations. Many of them are approved by the govern-
ment and available for structural design of buildings. The Recommendations for
Loads on Buildings (AIJ Recommendations, hereafter) is also published by the AIJ.
However, since the provisions in the AIJ Recommendations are not necessarily
consistent with those of the BSL, their use for load evaluation is generally restricted.
2. Building Standard Law of Japan
The BSL was established in 1950 and revised in 1981. Article 87 of the Enforcement
Order speci"es the wind loads for structural frames of buildings. Wind pressure is
given by the following very simple formula based on a quasi-steady assumption:
P"CqA,
where C is the wind force coe$cient, A the projected area [m`], and q the velocity
pressure [kg f/m`] as given by
q"

K60(Z Z616 m,
K120 " (Z, Z'16 m,
(2)
where Z is the height above ground [m], and K the factor for geographical position,
distance from seashore, and combination with snow load.
The velocity pressure is based on the maximum peak gust, 63 m/s, recorded 15 m
above ground during Typhoon Muroto in 1934. This typhoon attacked Osaka, the
second largest city in Japan. This maximum peak gust is thought to correspond
approximately to the 3-s-average value.
Wind force coe$cients essentially have to be determined according to results
obtained from appropriate wind tunnel tests, although those for parts and whole
buildings with typical sectional shapes are tabulated in the Enforcement Orders.
Unfortunately, they were based on very old data, and have not been revised since
1950.
The Enforcement Order also has a provision on wind pressure reduction where
upstream buildings, windbreaks, or other obstacles have sheltering e!ects.
Factor K is given in Noti"cation No. 1074 of the Ministry of Construction. The
value changes with distance from the coast, load combination, and geographical
region.
Noti"cation No. 109 of the Ministry of Construction has provisions for local wind
pressure coe$cients near the corners and edges for cladding design. Depending on
a ratio of projected breadth B to the height H of the building, the local wind force
coe$cient on the windward wall is speci"ed in the provisions.
556 Y. Tamura et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 555}566
The design criteria are determined such that the maximum stress does not exceed
the yield stress and the inter-story drift ratio is less than
`""
.
3. BCJ Recommendations for Structural Safety for Wind
The BCJ wind-resistant design criteria for high-rise buildings exceeding 60 m were
established in 1991 as shown in Table 1.
The Committee on structural safety at the BCJ generally permit designers to use the
AIJ Recommendations for evaluating the reference windspeed as well as the wind load
e!ects on buildings.
4. AIJ Recommendations for Loads on Buildings: Wind Loads
4.1. General
The "rst edition of the AIJ Recommendations was published in 1975. The gust
loading factor for estimating the along-wind loads based on statistical concepts was
introduced in the second edition published in 1981. Since buildings are becoming
higher and larger, thus becoming more vulnerable to wind excitations, accurate
estimation of across-wind and torsional loads has become increasingly important.
The third edition of wind load provisions for the AIJ Recommendations was
published in 1993. The wind load provisions were all updated, and across-wind and
torsional wind loads provisions were newly speci"ed for high-rise buildings with
rectangular cross-sections. Some of its contents are introduced here. The English
version of the AIJ Recommendations was published in 1996 [1], and includes
commentaries on the basis and background of the formulations. A paper presenting
detailed commentaries on wind load and wind-induced response estimations in the
AIJ Recommendations was published in 1996 [2].
Table 1
BCJ wind-resistant design criteria for high-rise buildings (H'60 m)
Reference windspeed Structural condition
Level 1 100-year-recurrence E Within yield stress
E Drift ratio less than
`""
Level 2 1.15;Level 1 E Behave almost elastically
(Approx. 500-year-recurrence)
1.2 (or 1.5);Level 16Onset windspeed of aeroelastic instability
(Approx. 1000-year-recurrence)
Y. Tamura et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 555}566 557
4.2. Design wind speed
Design windspeed ;
&
at the reference height H (m) which usually corresponds to
the mean roof height of the building is given by the following formula:
;
&
";
M
E
P
E
E
R, (3)
where ;
M
is the basic wind speed, E
P
the exposure factor, E
E
the topography factor,
and R the return period conversion factor. The basic wind speed is de"ned as the
100-year-recurrence 10-min-mean windspeed at 10 m above the ground in #at open
terrain (Category II) as shown in Fig. 1. The exposure factor is de"ned in Table 2
based on the #at terrain subcategories shown in Table 3.
Fig. 1. Basic windspeed ;
M
in Japan: 10-min-mean, 10 m above ground, Category II, 100-year-recurrence
(AIJ Recommendations).
558 Y. Tamura et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 555}566
Table 2
Exposure factor E

(AIJ Recommendations)
Reference
height H
Flat terrain subcategories
I II III IV V
H6Z
@
E
P
"1.15 E
P
"0.90 E
P
"0.69 E
P
"0.58 E
P
"0.50
Z
@
(H6Z
%
E
P
"1.7(H/Z
%
)?
Z
@
(m) 5 5 5 10 20
Z
%
(m) 250 350 450 550 650
: 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.27 0.35
Table 3
Flat terrain subcategories (AIJ Recommendations)
Category Construction site condition
I Open, no signi"cant obstruction, sea
II Open, few obstruction, grassland, rice "elds
III Suburban, wooded terrain, few tall buildings (4}9-story)
IV City, tall buildings (4}9-story)
V City center, heavy concentration of tall buildings (higher than 10-story)
The velocity pressure at the reference height is obtained by
q
&
"
`
j;`
&
(4)
where j is the air density (1.225 kg/m` can be used).
4.3. Wind load estimation procedure
Separate wind load estimates are required for main resisting systems and compo-
nents/cladding. Two di!erent calculation formulae were derived for the wind loads on
main resisting systems: one is for the horizontal along-wind load and the other is for
the roof load. As shown in Fig. 2, three procedures with di!erent accuracies can be
used by designers: the Simpli"ed Procedure (SP) for low-rise small buildings, the
Detailed Procedure I (DP-I) for middle height rigid buildings, and the Detailed
Procedure II (DP-II) for high-rise #exible buildings. Additionally, the across-wind and
torsional loads must be estimated for wind-sensitive buildings. Special load estima-
tions for aeroelastic instability are also required for particularly slender and #exible
buildings.
All provisions are expressed only in equations to avoid reading errors and to "t in
with computerization, without any diagrams except the contour map of the basic
windspeed ;
"
. This philosophy of excluding diagrams is consistent throughout the
AIJ Recommendations.
Y. Tamura et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 555}566 559
Fig. 2. Classi"cations of building types, relevant phenomena to be considered and wind load estimation
procedures (AIJ Recommendations).
4.4. Along-wind load for main resisting systems
The along-wind load =
D
at height Z is given by
=
D
"q
&
C
D
G
D
A, (5)
where q
&
is the velocity pressure at the reference height H, C
D
the wind force
coe$cient at height Z, G
D
the gust e!ect factor, and A the projected area. The gust
e!ect factor is calculated as follows:
G
D
"

1#4r
D
(B
D
for DP-I,
1#g
D
r
D
((B
D
#R
D
) for DP-II.
(6)
Windspeed #uctuation factor r
D
, peak factor g
D
, back ground excitation factor B
D
and
resonance factor R
D
are formulated by the following equations:
r
D
"
3#3:
2#:
I
&
: windspeed #uctuation factor, (7)
I
&
"0.1

H
Z
%

?""`
: turbulence intensity, (8)
B
D
"1!
1
[1#5.1
&
/((HB)`(B/H)I]`
: background excitation factor, (9)
k"

0.33, H7B,
!0.33, H(B,
(10)
g
D
"(2ln(600v
D
)#1.2: peak factor, (11)
560 Y. Tamura et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 555}566
v
D
"n
"
(R
D
/(B
D
#R
D
): level crossing factor, (12)
R
D
"

4p
D
S
D
F: resonance factor, (13)
S
D
"
0.84
1#2.1(n
"
H/;
&
)1#2.1(n
"
B/;
&
)
: size reduction factor, (14)
F"
4(n
"

&
/;
&
)
1#71(n
"

&
/;
&
)``"
: wind force spectrum factor, (15)

&
"100

H
30
"`
: turbulence scale at the reference height (m), (16)
where, B is the projected breadth of building, n
"
the fundamental natural frequency of
building in along-wind direction, and p
D
the fundamental damping ratio of along-
wind vibration to the critical value.
DP-II is required to be applied for:
H'45 m or ;
&
'40 m/s. (17)
4.5. Roof wind load for main resisting systems
The roof wind load =
D
is given by
=
D
"q
&
(C
NC
G
NC
!C
NG
G
NG
)A, (18)
where C
NC
and G
NG
are the external and internal wind pressure coe$cients, and
G
NC
and G
NG
the external and internal gust e!ect factors. External gust e!ect factor
G
NC
is given for DP-I and DP-II as follows:
G
D
"

1#4r
NC
(B
NC
for DP-I,
1#g
NC
r
NC
((B
NC
#R
NC
) for DP-II.
(19)
r
NC
"2.2I`
&
#0.19: pressure #uctuation factor, (20)
g
NC
"(2ln(600n
"
)#1.2: peak factor (21)
B
NC
"

0.36
(/H)"`"(b/H)"""
: roof beam parallel to wind direction,
0.5(b/H)""`
(/H)"""
: roof beam normal to wind direction,
(22)
R
NC
"

0.004
nH``
"
(/H)"`"p
D
: roof beam parallel to wind direction,
0.01(b/H)"""
nH`"
"
(/H)"`"p
D
: roof beam normal to wind direction,
(23)
where, is the span, b the projected breadth, nH
"
"n
"
H/;
&
, n
"
the fundamental
natural frequency of roof beam, and p
D
the fundamental damping ratio of the roof
Y. Tamura et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 555}566 561
beam to the critical value. Internal gust e!ect factor G
NG
is set at 1.3 and two values of
C
NG
, 0 and !0.4, are usually checked.
For relatively #exible roof beams with a large span which satisfy the following
criteria, the wind loads shall be calculated by DP-II:
n
"
H
;
&
(1.5. (24)
4.6. Across-wind load and torsional load for main systems
Across-wind load and torsional load must be estimated for buildings which satisfy
the following conditions:
H
((BD)
73 and
n
"
((BD)
;
&
60.4, (25)
where D is the building depth, and n
"
the fundamental natural frequency for across-
wind or torsional vibrations. The across-wind load =
'
and torsional moment
M
'
acting at height Z for unit length are given by
=
'
"3 qH C'
'
B
Z
H
g
'
((1#R
'
), (26)
M
'
"1.8 qHC'
'
B`
Z
H
g
'
((1#R
'
), (27)
where C'
'
, C'
'
are the RMS across-wind overturning moment coe$cient and RMS
torsional moment coe$cient, B the projected breadth normal to wind, g
'
, g
'
are the
peak factors, and R
'
, R
'
are the resonance factors. They are formulated as functions
of the side ratio D/B, size of the building, the dynamic characteristics and so on in the
AIJ Recommendations. However, because of space limitation, the detailed explana-
tions are excluded here. The above equations are applicable to buildings having
a uniform rectangular section, H/((BD)66, and 0.26D/B65.
4.7. Vortex-induced vibration and aeroelastic instability
Vortex-induced vibration and aeroelastic instability of buildings with a rectangular
section: For buildings satisfying the following conditions, the vortex-induced vibra-
tion and the aeroelastic instability shall be examined:
H/((BD)74 and ;
&
'0.83;H
AP
n
"
((BD), (28)
where ;H
AP
is non-dimensional critical windspeed for aeroelastic instability shown in
Table 4.
Vortex-induced vibration of buildings/members with a circular section: For buildings
with a circular cross-section satisfying the following conditions, the vortex-induced
vibration shall be examined:
H/D77 and ;
&
'4.2n
"
D (29)
562 Y. Tamura et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 555}566
Table 4
Non-dimensional critical windspeed ;H
AP
for aeroelastic instability (AIJ Recommendations)
Terrain subcategories Side ratio Scruton number Critical windspeed
D/B o ;H
AP
D/B60.8 o60.7 16o
0.7(o 11
I, II 0.8(D/B61.5 * 1.2o#7.3
o60.2 2.3
1.5(D/B62.5 0.2(o60.8 12
0.8(o 15o
2.5(D/B o60.4 3.7
III, IV, V D/B60.8 4.5o#6.7
0.8(D/B61.2 0.7o#8.8
1.2(D/B 11
Wind loads on buildings with a circular cross-section caused by vortex-induced
vibration are calculated from
=
P
";`
P
Z
H
C
P
A (30)
where, =
P
is the wind load (N), ;
P
"5n
"
D
K
the resonance windspeed (m/s), D
K
the
diameter (m) of the building at height 2H/3, and C
P
the wind force coe$cient at
resonance, as de"ned in Table 5.
For members with a circular cross-section in the subcritical Reynolds number
region, the maximum non-dimensional displacement >("y/D) at the center of the
span is predicted by
>"
;H
P
(1#0.73/o"")
52o#6.2;H
P
, (31)
where ;H
P
(";
P
/n
"
D)"5#0.26/o` is the non-dimensional resonance windspeed at
the average height of the member, n
"
the fundamental natural frequency of the
member, o"4p
D
M/jD` the Scruton number, p
D
the fundamental damping ratio of
the member to the critical value, M the mass of the member, D the diameter of the
member, and the length of the member.
4.8. Wind loads for components/cladding
Wind loads on components/cladding of buildings are calculated from
=
A
"q
&
(C
NC
G
NC
!C
NG
G
NG
)A. (32)
Necessary parameters C
NC
, C
NG
, G
NC
, and G
NG
are de"ned and given in the AIJ Recom-
mendations.
Y. Tamura et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 555}566 563
Table 5
Wind force coe$cient at resonance C
P
(AIJ Recommendations)
;
P
D
K
(m`/s) j
D
(p
D
(5 j
D
(p
D
75
;
P
D
K
(3 1.3
(p
D
#
1.8
j
D
p
D
1.7
(p
D
36;
P
D
K
(6 Linear interpolation Linear interpolation
66;
P
D
K
0.53
(p
D
#
0.2
j
D
p
D
0.57
(p
D
4.9. Simplixed Procedure (SP)
The wind forces on buildings satisfying the following conditions can be estimated
by SP:
(i) No special shapes or structural systems of buildings,
(ii) H(15 m,
(iii) H/26B(30 m.
Horizontal wind loads and roof wind loads for structural frames are calculated
from:
=
QD
"0.35 ;`
"
H""C
C
C
D
A. (33)
Wind loads on components/cladding are calculated from
=
QA
"0.45 ;`
"
H""C
C
C
D
A. (34)
=
QD
, =
QA
are the wind loads (N), Hthe mean roof height (if H(5 m, H should be set
at 5 m), C
C
the exposure factor which is generally 1.0 and shall be 1.4 for =
QD
and 1.6
for =
QA
, respectively, for open terrain with few obstructions. When windspeed
is expected to increase due to local topography, this factor shall be increased
accordingly.
5. AIJ Guidelines for the Evaluation of Habitability to Building Vibration
Guidelines for the Evaluation of Habitability to Building Vibration was published
by the AIJ in 1991. The 1-year recurrence maximum peak acceleration and the
fundamental natural frequency of the horizontal vibration are collated with guidelines
H-1, H-2, H-3 and H-4, as shown by broken lines in Fig. 3. Here, H-2 and H-3 are
recommended as the standard to be satis"ed for residential buildings and o$ce
buildings, respectively. The criteria were introduced from the view point of maintain-
ing a comfortable daily life. Plots in Fig. 3 indicate the results evaluated for actual tall
buildings in Japan.
564 Y. Tamura et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 555}566
Fig. 3. AIJ Guidelines for the evaluation of habitability to building vibration and plots for actual buildings
in Japan [3].
Incidentally, there may be a controversy regarding the steep inclination in the
frequency range less than 0.2 Hz. Commentaries on the Guidelines are reported in
1992 [3].
6. BCJ Guidebook on Wind Tunnel Experiments for Building Engineers
Wind tunnel tests are required to assess the wind pressures/forces or wind-induced
responses of buildings which have a complicated shape or special structural features.
To assure satisfactory quality of the wind tunnel test approach, a Guidebook on Wind
Tunnel Experiments for Building Engineers was published by BCJ in 1994, and
includes the following items:
E Purpose and scope of applications,
E Building design and wind tunnel testing (aims, roles, types, e$ciency),
E Theoretical background of wind tunnel testing (scale models and similarity laws,
similarity parameters, geometrical scale, windspeed scale, time scale, simulation of
the atmospheric boundary layer #ow, measurements),
E Experimental schemes (check points for cladding design, wind force experiments,
aerodynamic vibration tests, and wind environmental design),
E Wind pressure measurements (measuring systems, measuring conditions, data
processing),
E Wind force measurements (measuring systems, measuring conditions, data process-
ing, application, etc.),
E Aerodynamic vibration tests (aims, measuring conditions, rocking models, multi-
story models, full-elastic models),
Y. Tamura et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 555}566 565
E Wind environmental experiments (aims, preparation, arrangements of the results,
examples),
E Practical examples (cladding design of high-rise buildings, structural frame design
of high-rise buildings, elastic models for high-rise buildings).
7. Concluding remarks
The Ministry of Construction has initiated a 3-year national research project on
performance-based design in 1995. It is intended to introduce this concept into the
BSL of Japan. Then, the RLB is thought to be involved in the approval of documents,
and they are expected to be more widely used in Japan. For further development of
wind-resistant design, we need to collect more precise and abundant information on
the parameters needed to assess wind loads including knowledge of data scattering
and elasto-plastic behavior during strong wind.
References
[1] AIJ Recommendations for Loads on Buildings, 1996, Architectural Institute of Japan, Maruzen, pp.
133, ISBN4-8189-0459-7 C3052 P4450E.
[2] Y. Tamura, H. Kawai, Y. Uematsu, H. Marukawa, K. Fujii, Y. Taniike, Wind load and wind-induced
response estimations in the Recommendations for Loads on Buildings, AIJ, 1993, Eng. Struct. 18 (6)
(1996) 399}411.
[3] T. Goto, T. Ohkuma, Y. Tamura, O. Nakamura, Guidelines for the evaluation of habitability to
building vibration Part II: AIJ Recommendations 1991, ASCE Structures Congress &92, Compact
Papers, San Antonio, Texas, 1992, pp. 484}487.
566 Y. Tamura et al. / J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 555}566