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).
  
On the University of Western Ontario campus, wind tunnel tests are in progress that will be the basis of a singular procedure to determine the wind pressures on a building regardless of the building height. The final report, to be produced in October 2019 by Principal Investigator, Don Scott, PE, SE, F.SEI, ASCE, will help inform decisions as SEI develops the 2022 update to ASCE 7 Minimum Design Loads and Associate Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures. In addition to bringing wind load coefficients up to date, the findings have the potential to simplify and consolidate the design codes in the U.S.
  
PCS Structural Solutions is proud to help support this exciting research in wind tunnel testing.