Wind Effects on Containers Stability

Due to their natural location, ports are very exposed to extreme weather conditions. Considering in particular terminal containers, the piled containers can fall and get damaged under strong wind. This paper describes a wide research activity aimed at the evaluation of wind effects on containers stability. The analytical formulation of stability conditions shows that they depend on three groups of parameters: the local wind field and turbulence parameters, the friction coefficient between the containers surface and the aerodynamic coefficients of piled containers. The friction coefficient has been analysed by means of in situ tests on the piled containers. The aerodynamic coefficients have been studied by means of wind tunnel tests on scaled models. The main results are shown and discussed.