Dynamic response of elevator compensating ropes in buildings under wind loading

Abstract. High-rise buildings often suffer from severe vibrations induced by strong winds. The low-frequency sway of the structure can excite elevator compensating ropes installed in tall buildings. The danger arises when the building is excited near its natural frequency. If one of the natural frequencies of the compensating ropes coincides simultaneously with the natural frequency of the building transient resonance and large displacements of the ropes occur. This paper focuses on the analysis of relevant models of the building – compensating rope system to predict its dynamic response. In order to demonstrate the dynamic behaviour of the system the excitation mechanism is first represented by a harmonic process and the results of computer simulations are analyzed. However, the excitation due to the wind action is usually a wide band stochastic process and the state vector is governed by stochastic equations. Therefore, the differential equations governing the second-order statistical moments of the state vector are developed and presented.