Abstract

The extreme wind map of the Argentinean code of practice CIRSOC 102 was updated in 1997 from records of the period 1967-1990. The information contained in this map is represented by the Basic Wind Speed, '''V'''. The contribution of the uncertainty of '''V '''to the whole uncertainty of the design wind load, of either a building or structure, is dominant with regard to the other variables that make up the wind load. Some authors asses this contribution to be above 70%, which underlines the importance of having good quality estimations of '''V'''. For this reason the extreme wind maps are updated periodically. In this work, results of '''V''' calculated from updated records of seven meteorological stations in north-eastern Argentina (NEA region) are presented. The values turn out to be noticeably lower than those of the CIRSOC 102; a reduction that is magnified when evaluated in terms of resulting wind loads. The records have been previously depurated after a combined assessment of both the quality of the instrumentation and the completeness of every yearly record. 95% confidence limits are presented, being the first time confidence limits are published for Argentina. Further values of '''V '''obtained after consolidating data of some stations in superstations are presented. Reductions of the confidence limits ranging 30% to 50% were observed.

Abstract