Advantages of Pedestrian Wind Comfort Studies
Posted on July 29, 2024
Advantages of Pedestrian Wind Comfort Studies at the Early Stages of Design
The importance of a safe and comfortable wind environment in the vicinity of new buildings is now acknowledged by project managers and architects alike. A study by Rose and Dolega (2021) involving over 2000 major high street retail outlets in the UK has found that wind is the most significant weather condition to impact consumer purchasing behaviour. Developers are beginning to realise the economic benefits of ensuring a favourable wind environment in areas that involve commercial activities, especially where their success hinges on the success of the retail or commercial tenants. Planning approvals relating to wind mitigations are far more streamlined when the pedestrian wind comfort study is undertaken at the early planning stage. Wind tunnel testing remains the most reliable means of predicting and alleviating wind problems around urban structures. It is possible to achieve similar reliability using bespoke CFD modelling (also offered by Windtech). Another advantage of investigating pedestrian wind comfort early in the design process is that it allows for elegant wind mitigation solutions that are properly integrated with the architecture rather than tacky add-ons.
A recently completed development in Sydney incorporating wind mitigations for al fresco dining areas.
A word of caution when using the cheaper commercial packages as they tend to provide erroneous and misleading guidance, which would frustrate the design process when very different guidance is eventually obtained from wind tunnel tests. Windtech is unique in their ability to offer preliminary desktop assessments that would tend to be far more accurate than the cheaper CFD model studies, due to the depth of experience of their senior staff.
Wind testing that is properly undertaken (refer to the AWES-QAM-01 2019) provides an accurate and definitive assessment of wind comfort conditions prevailing in the critical outdoor areas within or adjacent to the site and collectively create wind resilient communities. Wind velocities are measured in the wind tunnel for areas accessible by pedestrians and occupants. The measured wind conditions are directly compared to comfort criteria that vary, depending on the intended use, as well as against the safety limit.
Testing of wind mitigations is highly recommended as it allows for the verification of the effectiveness of the wind mitigation. This also allows the wind engineer to optimise the extent of wind mitigations. It also enables innovative solutions and informed design choices, while also ensuring compliance with local planning controls.
Windtech is the preferred consultant for pedestrian wind comfort studies by many major developers around the world for the following reasons:
- Accurate Modelling: Windtech have undertaken field measurements to validate both its modelling of the local wind environment and different pedestrian wind comfort criteria. This provides our clients with an added level of confidence in the accuracy of our wind tunnel modelling. Furthermore, our bespoke CFD modelling techniques have been thoroughly validated against wind tunnel results.
- Innovative and Efficient Wind Mitigations: In many instances, Windtech was contracted after a previous wind engineering facility had given up on developing a viable solution and ended up recommending solutions that would have an adverse impact on the commercial viability of the project, such as significant increases in tower setbacks from the podium edge etc. In all of these cases, Windtech were able to develop effective and robust mitigation strategies that do not adversely impact the commercial viability of the project or the architectural intent.
- We deliver on our promises: Windtech is acutely aware of the importance of timely delivery of these studies to not impact the planning approval process. We never make a promise we are not able to keep and with 3 large wind tunnels under one roof, and in the case of CFD a very significant computational cluster of up to 10,000 cores, and a large team of wind engineers and project managers, we have the resources to deliver on time every time.
Windtech Director, Tony Rofail recalls an example of a tower development (see below) where Windtech had taken over from another wind consultant; “We were approached by a developer in Melbourne who were faced the prospect of incorporating deeper setbacks of the tower from the edge of the podium, based on advice from their wind engineering consultant. We noted that the podium levels above Ground consisted entirely of carpark levels.
Making these levels porous, resulted in the alleviation of the downwash effects from the tower’s exposure to the prevailing northerly winds and served to provide natural ventilation for the carpark levels. This is a win-win for the client as it meant that no increased tower setbacks are needed as well as savings on the mechanical plant in the carpark floors.”
Windtech have 10 offices around the world to service our clients globally. You may reach us from anywhere by sending details of your project to reception@windtechglobal.com.
References:
- Rose, N and Dolega, L (2021), “It’s the Weather: Quantifying the Impact of Weather on Retail Sales”, Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy (2022) 15:189-214)
