As the height of a building increases, the most dominant wind forces on a building change from those on the roof to those on the walls of the building. This concept has been the basis of the dual set of provisions in the ASCE 7 Standard and building codes since the original wind tunnel studies were completed in the 1960’s and 1970’s. According to American Society of Civil Engineers/Structural Engineering Institute ASCE-SEI), “a systematic study using modern wind tunnel test methods for code-based design has not been conducted in over 40 years.”
 
A grant, championed by NCSEA and Charles Pankow Foundation (CPF), was awarded to conduct such a study headed by the Wind Loads Sub-committee of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), with PCS senior principal Don Scott, S.E., F.SEI, F.ASCE, chief investigator. Anyone can download the report at the Pankow Foundation website: https://www.pankowfoundation.org/04-19-determination-of-pressure-coeffic...