Roy Denoon is Vice President and Principal of CPP Wind Engineering. He co-authored the CTBUH “Guide to Wind Tunnel Testing of High-Rise Buildings” and edited the Australasian Wind Engineering Society “Quality Assurance Manual for Wind Tunnel Testing of Buildings and Structures.” (rdenoon@cppwind.com)
The recent publication of the ASCE/SEI Prestandard for Performance-Based Wind Design (Prestandard), and the upcoming publication of a Manual of Practice on Design and Performance of Tall Buildings for Wind prepared by an ASCE/SEI Task Committee, make this an apt time to provide an overview of the intent of these documents, the present state-of-the-art in Performance-Based Wind Design (PBWD), and current efforts to update knowledge. …
Wind tunnel testing is a ‘black box’ to many practicing structural engineers. This article strives to shine a small beacon inside the box and provide the reader with a foundation for asking sensible questions of wind tunnel laboratories. It is written from the author’s experience as a practicing wind engineer, an advocate for wind tunnel testing on major projects, and a client in receipt of wind tunnel test reports. …
Traditionally, tornados have been overlooked in structural design in favor of more predictable straight-line winds. Indeed, all of the design wind speeds presented in ASCE 7 are based on either surface data analysis of thunderstorms and synoptic storms, or Monte Carlo simulations of hurricanes. …