Wind Engineering and Environmental Fluid Mechanics Courses

Much of the damage observed to buildings following severe windstorms is to the components and cladding (C&C). When major structural failures do occur, they are often closely related to the failure of a component or a cladding element. The objectives of this course are to provide an introduction wind effects on these building systems. Wind loads, and the response of C&C to these wind loads will be covered. [Course Outline]

The objectives of this course are to provide a general introduction to the atmospheric boundary layer and its properties, including basic concepts and general characteristics, governing equations, turbulence, the parameterization of turbulence and surface fluxes, measurements and data analysis, and the effects of surface roughness changes and topography. [Course Outline]

A study of meteorological and aerodynamic factors pertinent to wind loading, diffusion and snow loading problems. The aeroelastic behaviour of buildings and bridges. [Course Outline]

Students are introduced to Computational Wind Engineering (CWE) focussing on modelling of wind flow in the built-environment with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Students are presented with the fundamentals and the current state-of-the-art of CWE application to assess wind effects of wind on building and bridge structures; familiarised with the terms, questions and problems encountered in the computational design of buildings and bridges for wind performance and to provide details about their possible solutions; introduced to computational evaluation of parameters useful to assess human comfort to wind effects and to secondary flows caused by tall buildings and other structures. [Course Outline]

In this course, students are introduced to environmental issues associated with buildings, passive cooling and heating building systems, as well as concepts of building performance indicators. Students are exposed to modeling methods to evaluate environmental loads and energy demand, to the use of building simulations in life cycle analysis for the selection of energy-efficient building components and systems, and to applicable regulatory and sustainability frameworks. Buildings can produce less greenhouse gas emissions and consume less energy while being comfortable, healthy, and economical through the proper application of sustainable design. [Course Outline]

This is a graduate course focusing on the advanced fluid mechanical aspects of bluff body aerodynamics. While the theoretical, experimental and computational aspects of the aerodynamics around streamlined bodies are highly developed, flows around bluff bodies have remained more elusive to both theory and computation. This is largely because of the role of turbulence, very high Reynolds numbers, and the complex flow fields that occur in applications such as wind loads on structures. The purpose of the course is to aid the student in understanding the role of the various factors which impact the aerodynamic loads on bluff bodies in the wind, as well as to familiarize the student on the use of the data analysis methods used to understand bluff body flows. [Course Outline]