Wind Engineering and Fluid Mechanics

 

• Introduction
• Research
• Faculty
• Facilities and Resources
• Courses
• Qualifying Exam

 

 

Program Coordinator
Bogusz (Bo) Bienkiwicz
bogusz@engr.colostate.edu
970-491-8232

 

Introduction

The area of Wind Engineering deals with wind and its effects on human activities, built infrastructure (buildings, structures, etc.) and natural environment. Significant contributions to this field were made through fundamental and applied research carried out by faculty, students and technical personnel at the Wind Engineering and Fluids Laboratory (formerly the Fluid Dynamics and Diffusion Laboratory) at Colorado State University, described herein and on the laboratory website, at www.windlab.colostate.edu. The above activities led to establishment of the Wind Engineering and Fluid Mechanics Program, a program focused on coordinated graduate research and education in wind engineering and fluid mechanics.

Graduate studies in Wind Engineering and Fluid Mechanics typically consider the following issues:

• Characterization of wind and fluid mechanics phenomena for engineering applications (effects of earth rotation, friction, wind characteristics and surface shear layer turbulence, extreme winds, wind modeling).
  
  
• Wind effects on structures (local and global wind loading, wind-induced response, response control, modeling of wind effects, implementation of codes and standards, risk analysis).
  
  
• Atmospheric transport (atmospheric advection and dispersion of pollutants, wind-induced mass transport, control of wind transport of sand and snow, wind effects on agricultural crops and related activities, modeling of atmospheric transport).
  
  
• Modification of wind by natural and built environment.
  
  
• Wind power and wind effects on traditional and innovative/renewable energy systems.
  
  
• Socio-economical effects of wind and wind damage mitigation.
  
  

 

Research

Representative current research projects involving the WEFM faculty, staff and students include:

Refined Physical Modeling of Wind Effects on Low Buildings: This long-term effort, supported by National Science Foundation and other sponsors, is focused on evaluation of existing and development of new techniques for wind-tunnel modeling of wind effects on buildings and structures. Laboratory results are validated by comparison with field results. The experimental data obtained at WEFL and at collaborating wind engineering laboratories word wide is being incorporated in a distributed (XML-aided) data base, to be utilized in a database-assisted wind resistant design of buildings.

Investigation of Aerodynamic Interference and Structural Coupling Effects on Wind-induced Response of Tall Buildings: Various configurations of structurally connected tall buildings are being considered. The experimental technique based on the use of two synchronized high-frequency response force balances has been developed and is being utilized in these investigations. The effects of close proximity of the buildings on the wind induced loading and the building response are evaluated. The coupled modal loading is employed in calculation of the structural response of the buildings and the effects of the structural coupling on the responses are evaluated using advanced analytical and modeling tools.

Mitigation of Adverse Wind Effects on Loose-laid and PV Roofing Systems: Wind tunnel studies and analytical/numerical modeling are utilized to investigate and mitigate adverse effects of wind on performance of various innovative roofing systems, including photovoltatic (PV) modules/arrays. Fundamental studies of generic configurations are carried out to gain insight into fluid mechanics phenomena governing aerodynamic performance/wind resistance of “real-life” systems.

Computational Wind Engineering Simulations and Experimental Validation of Wind Effects: Commercial and in-house developed software is utilized in numerical simulations of various wind effects. Laboratory (wind tunnel) data obtained at WEFL are employed to validate the numerical results. Datasets resulting from simulations are processed using advanced tools. The investigated phenomena include: flow past bluff bodies and complex terrain, wind loading on buildings, other structures and components, pedestrian-level wind environment, others.

The scope of Wind Engineering research carried out by graduate students affiliated with WEFM/WEFL is well represented by the following sample of titles of their dissertations and theses: Turbulence Effects on Wind-Induced Building Pressure (Ph.D.), Analysis of Building Wind Pressure Using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition, Autoregressive Moving Average and Neural Networks (Ph.D.), Wind Loading on Loose-Laid Roofing Paver Systems (Ph.D.), Large Eddy Simulation of Flow Past a Square Cylinder Using Finite Element Method (Ph.D.), Numerical Prediction of Turbulent Flow and Aerodynamic Loading on Bluff Bodies (Ph.D.), Wind-Tunnel Modeling of Low-Rise Structures (Ph.D.), Digital Synthesis of Wind Pressure Fluctuations on Building Surfaces (Ph.D.), Physical Modeling of Tornado Vortices (M.S.), Physical Modeling of Wind-Forced Natural Ventilation (M.S.), Haar Transform Analysis of Approach Flow and Dislodging of Roofing Pavers (M.S.), Wind Tunnel Study of Full Aeroelastic Roof Model (M.S.), Fluctuations of Area-Averaged Wind Pressures on Low-Rise Buildings (M.S.), Design and Testing of Multi Degree of Freedom Model of a Tall Building (M.S.), and others.

 

Faculty

The following faculty members are part of Colorado State's Fluid Mechanics and Wind Engineering Program:  

Bogusz (Bo) Bienkiewicz, Professor
Jack E. Cermak, Emeritus Professor
Suren Chen, Assistant Professor
Marvin E. Criswell, Professor
Robert (Bob) Meroney, Emeritus Professor
David E. Neff, Senior Research Scientist
Virgil A. Sandborn, Emeritus Professor
John W. van de Lindt, Associate Professor

 

Facilities and Resources

The primary laboratory facility and resource utilized by the staff and students affiliated with the Wind engineering and Fluid Mechanics Program (WEFM) is the Wind Engineering and Fluids Laboratory (WEFL). The laboratory consists of three large (boundary-layer) wind tunnels and a number of smaller wind-tunnel facilities. It is housed at the Engineering Research Center, which provides support services for the laboratory. The laboratory instrumentation includes: hot wire and laser doppler anemometry, multi-port pressure measurement systems, force balances, vibration transducers, computer support, data acquisition, as well as data processing and computational fluid dynamics software.

Further information on the laboratory capabilities, as well as recent and past projects carried out at WEFL can be found on the laboratory website, at www.windlab.colostate.edu. Students affiliated with the WEFM have direct access to the WEFL’s facilities and they are actively involved in research projects carried out at the laboratory.

 

Courses

Each student develops, in consultation with his/her advisory committee, a specific program of study and research that is consistent with the individual’s background, interests and goals. Typical programs are listed below. The PhD sample program assumes completion of a M.S. degree at Colorado State University with the same area of emphasis.

Master of Science

	CIVE 502	Fluid Mechanics
	CIVE 504	Wind Engineering
	CIVE 566	Intermediate Structural Analysis
	CIVE 603	Wind Effects on Structures
	CIVE 604	Fluid Turbulence and Modeling
	AT 555	Air Pollution
	M 530	Mathematics for Scientists and Engineers
	CIVE 560	Foundations of Solid Mechanics
	M 631	Partial Differential Equations I

Doctor of Philosophy

	AT 601	Atmospheric Dynamics
	AT 623	Atmospheric Boundary Layer
	CIVE 562	Fundamentals of Vibrations
	CIVE 565	Finite Element Method
	CIVE 622	Risk Analysis of Water/Environmental Systems
	CIVE 703	Special Topics in Fluid Mechanics
	ST 520	Introduction to Probability Theory
	ST 521	Stochastic Processes I

 

PhD Qualifying Exam

The Ph.D. qualifying exam is administered by the student’s graduate advisory committee. Typically, it is an oral exam. However, upon recommendation by the student’s academic adviser and approval by the committee, it may be implemented as a written exam. In such a case a follow-up oral exam may be scheduled, upon recommendations by the committee.