SOH Wind Engineering LLCWind Environment
SOH Wind Engineering offers consultancy service for the wind environment design of outdoor spaces.
The comfort of an outdoor space highly depends on the wind environment. When the aim is to achieve a pleasant outdoor space or when safety is a concern, the importance of the wind environment should not be neglected. It is especially important if the area is to be used for long-term sitting, such as a café, or safety is critical, such as a helipad. To ensure that the wind environment at a site fulfils these requirements a wind environment analyses should be a part of the early design phase.
The first step is to specify the requirements and expectations of the site. SOH Wind Engineering determines the surrounding wind environment from a variety of sources. SOH Wind Engineering then carries out wind tunnel tests with scale models of the buildings at the particular site and the closest neighboring buildings. During the test a variety of options can be explored to achieve the desired wind environment.
The wind tunnel tests can either be visual tests or wind velocity measurements. A visual test is used as a basis for general evaluation of the wind environment and to point out the critical areas. Wind velocity can be measured in selected points at the site. These measurements are used to give a more detailed analysis of the wind environment. CFD-analyses may also be used to determine the wind environment at a site or to look at other factors including heat or pollution.
SOH Wind Engineering uses well-accepted criteria to categories the wind environment at a site.