Wind Engineering

Typically before tall buildings, stadiums, fabric structures, long span roofs and long span bridges are built,wind tunnel simulations are performed on small scale models. These boundary layer wind tunnels operate at low speeds using a 360 degree turntable to simulate multi-directional wind forces. Ground effect boundary layers are also simulated in these tests. Of recent interest is the interaction of the wind from tornados and hurricanes on structures. The purpose of wind engineering is to determine the interaction of wind with buildings, structures, & terrain to enhance design, efficiency, and increase reliability. Pressure Measurements Wind Tunnel testing determines wind load distribution on walls, roof systems, wind suction, or pressures at doorways, impact on pedestrians, as well as fluctuating forces & torques on the structure system. Scanivalve’s high sample rate pressure measuring instruments are ideal for measuring unsteady state wind tunnel wall and model pressures. Our compact high density ZOC pressure scanners are available in 32, & 64 pressure input designs. These pressure scanners and RAD Base can be placed inside the model to minimize tubing lengths and measure several hundred pressures (up to 2048 channels) on a scale model.