WIND CLIMATE STUDIES

The wind tunnel testing performed at the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory provides aerodynamic information which includes sensitivities to a project's orientation and to its surroundings. This information alone is not useful for design purposes since it does not take into account the likelihood of the winds blowing from those directions nor at what strength they are likely to blow. In order to make the most rational use of the aerodynamic information from the wind tunnel test, it is necessary to synthesize it with actual wind climate characteristics at the site to produce predictions of responses for various return periods.

Prior to each wind tunnel test, the Alan G. Davenport Wind Engineering Group collects all available historical wind climate data for the project area.  These data are then analyzed to produce a suitable statistical model of the wind climate for the project area.  Hurricane and typhoon regions of the world are studied using state-of-the-art tropical cyclone wind simulation models.