Equipment for characterizing wind-drivin rain loads for mid-rise buildings

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The fund being requested through this NSERC RTI application is to support a research project planned in the recently approved NSERC Strategic Network on Innovative Wood Products and Building Systems (NEWBuildS). The objective of this sub-project is to quantify wind-driven rain loads for mid-rise buildings in key areas of Canada that represent a wide range of wind-driven rain characteristics. The proposed research project will generate new data on wind-driven load on mid-rise buildings with various overhang configurations. Wind-driven rain measurements in three geographic locations, the Lower Mainland of BC, Quebec (or Ontario), and the Maritimes are planned. A total of nine mid-rise buildings will be instrumented with equipment for wind-driven rain measurements. The data collected will enable the research team to quantify wind-driven rain load in relation to local topography and also develop a wetting pattern that is useful for assessing the effectiveness of overhang designs. Data collected through this field monitoring will be used to benchmark a CFD model. Once the model is validated, it will be used to generate wind-driven rain load magnitudes and wetting patterns on mid-rise buildings of various sizes, geometries, overhang configurations, local surroundings and geographic locations. Synthesis of the results will lead to recommendations on overhang widths and configurations in different geographic locations. Such knowledge is critical in developing technical solutions and robust designs for ensuring durability performance of mid-rise wood-frame construction, which can then be integrated into building design guidelines, codes and standards and also help advance building innovation. Equipment requested includes weather stations, customized driving rain gauges, data loggers with accessories. In addition to the NSERC NEWBuilds project, it is expected that the equipment will be used for future studies on development of a wind-driven rain database for Canadian climates and design tools for predicting wind-driven rain on buildings.