'Supersensored' Supertower

From Engineering News Record...

"There is at least one superlative associated with the world’s tallest structure that few know about: The 828-meter Burj Dubai, renamed Burj Khalifa on its opening day, Jan. 4, is likely the most monitored skyscraper in the world, from its foundation to the top of its pinnacle. Data collected from the building’s permanent sensors will be used to refine design and construction methods for future supertall towers..."

Click here to read the full article from ENR.

Dynamic Soaring

From pbs.org:

...the concept of dynamic soaring dates back to the 1880s, when it was proposed by the physicist Lord Rayleigh. “He was watching the flight of birds and he figured out that birds could take advantage of gusts of wind,” explains Bowers. “He reasoned that as a stronger gust would hit a bird, the bird would see that as an increase in the amount of energy that it had and could convert that energy into an increase in altitude...”

Continue reading the article at pbs.org: Thermal vs. Dynamic Soaring

Changing Dynamics of Aerodynamics

The wind engineering community, like so many other science and engineering fields, are constantly exploring ways in which emerging and evolving technologies can be incorporated to enhance the current body of work.

This paper, entitled "The Changing Dynamics of Aerodynamics: New Frontiers," highlights some of the collaborative work being conducted between the NatHaz Lab and other partners. It will be presented at APCWE VII in Taipei, Taiwan.

ICOSSAR 2009 Keynote Lecture

The Audacity of Change: A Transition to Nonstationary and Nonlinear Era

by Dr. Ahsan Kareem

NY Times: study says U.S. winds are slowing

A June 15th, 2009 article in the New York Times (click here for the link) highlights a recent study that suggests wind speeds in the U.S. have been decreasing over the last 30 years.

A copy of the paper can be found here: S.C. Pryor et al., 2009 (Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres)

Although there are issues pertaining to the data sets themselves, and the conditions of data collection (which are discussed in the paper), it does pose an interesting problem for U.S. Government mandates to harness more energy from wind to replace non-renewable sources. One of the authors did point out that most wind speed measurements are collected at airports, ~30 feet above the ground surface, which may differ from the wind speeds experienced by wind turbines at higher elevations.

The more interesting comment, however, was that a possible cause for the "slowing" winds might be the level of reforestation occurring in the U.S., the fourth fastest rate in the world between 2000 and 2005. Increasing forest cover my provide some much needed wind protection for many low rise structures that are currently reside in open exposures.