Novel computational and experimental wind engineering approaches for community level performance assessment

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Canada's diverse geography and climate exposes our communities to wind hazards, such as tornadoes and hurricanes. This is further aggravated due to aging infrastructure, population growth and climate change. To maintain the safety and prosperity of our communities, it is vital to develop a comprehensive framework to assess and mitigate the impacts of extreme climate. In this research program novel computer models and large scale experimental approaches will be developed to assess the wind performance of buildings at a community level. This approach is unique as it considers aerodynamics for progressive failure and the interdependence of cladding, structural systems, individual buildings, and neighborhoods.To achieve these goals the following three research objectives are proposed:(1) Computer and experimental wind flow modeling and visualization: This objective proposes novel developments at pre-processing, system modeling and post processing stages. At the pre-processing stages, generation of three-dimensional building layouts in cities assisted with various remote sensing sensors installed on an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) and those obtained from satellites will be automated. At the system modeling stage, detail computer and experimental based methods for modeling turbulent wind (and wind-driven-rain) and its interaction with buildings will be developed. At post-processing level, user friendly data analysis/mining and visualizations will be developed. (2) Progressive aerodynamics and hydrodynamics for buildings and neighborhoods: Here, the computer models developed in (1) will be integrated with building information modeling (BIM) at various levels of development. Since the BIM model will consist of all the parts of building, it is possible to model damage states in detail. In parallel, new experimental testing protocols enabled by emerging 3D printing technologies and large-scale wind testing facilities will be developed for validation. (3) Non-linear aeroelastic characterization for high-rise buildings: Current tall building design for wind only considers linear elastic capacity of structural systems. However, tall buildings can be subjected to loads beyond design capacity during hurricane and tornado events; as a result local plastic deformations may occur. The impact of these types of plastic deformations are unknown. In this objective novel experimental methods for non-linear aeroelastic characterization will be developed assisted with state-of-the-art 3D printers.The insurance, Architectural and Engineering (As leadership in risk mitigation technology.