SYNOPSIS

There are various ways designers can predict wind impact on buildings and other structures. The most commonly used methods are through the application building codes and/or physical testing in a wind tunnel. As building codes are easily accessible and relatively inexpensive to apply, they tend to be the popular choice for predicting wind actions. However it is important for the building designers to understand the limitations and complexities of applying wind loading codes for the design of buildings and other structures. The first segment of the seminar investigates these limitations by comparing the process and outcomes of code based analysis vs physical testing in a wind tunnel. Further discussion will be drawn on the various techniques used by wind consulting companies to combine the measured wind tunnel coefficients with the regional wind climate, and how these techniques effect the accuracy of wind tunnel results.

The second segment talks about the application of supplementary dampers for mitigating against predicted building sway in the event that there is not other mitigative solution.  For those who are interested in Sustainable design, the third segment of the seminar focus on a general overview of LEED Certification, and advanced CFD modelling  for sustainable design.


BIODATA SPEAKER

Tony Rofail – Director, Principal
Tony has 30 years’ combined experience as both researcher and consultant in wind engineering including 26 years with Windtech Consultants since its establishment in 1991. His postgraduate studies were on the subject of Reliability of Wind Tunnel Simulations, on which he has published a number of papers. Prior to this Tony had researched the interference effect of neighbouring buildings on wind-induced vibration of tall/slender buildings.
Tony Rofail has undertaken and supervised over 2,500 wind engineering studies including wind tunnel investigations for various high-rise buildings, large roof and stadium building projects around the world, including many landmark projects. Over the past 15 years, Tony has developed innovative techniques in the study of the dynamic response of tall buildings that exhibit complex modal behaviour as well as the effect of rigid structural linkages between tall buildings and has presented at many conferences on these topics. Recently tony has been involved in the development of the design of a cost effective high-performance liquid damper.

Aaron Lefcovitch – Director, Principal
Aaron has over 10 years’ experience in wind engineering. Aaron spent a number of years in the Sydney office as a project engineer before being promoted as manager of the Singapore office in 2010, to provide support to Asia and MENA regions.
During his tenure ha has demonstrated an ability to develop and strengthen the capabilities of core staff while leading and growing the business globally from a technical and operational point of view. He has either lead and/or assisted in the delivery of more than 500 projects across the board spectrum of technical services that the company provides, including wind induced structural loads studies, façade cladding pressure studies, pedestrian wind comfort studies and solar glare impact studies  

Wei Cheng – Senior Engineer
Wei has 7 years’ extensive practical experience as consultant in Environmentally Sustainability Design (ESD) since he obtained his master degree in this field. Wei has strong focus on sustainable building design and evaluate both passive and active design measures through various building physics analysis tools. Wei leveraged on his building services engineering technical background to explore leading edge designs and latest technologies and delivery integrated design solutions that target for triple bottom line in built environment developments.
Wei has worked on numerous projects perusing sustainability, from master planning level to building developments with commercial, hotel, institutional and residential types. Wei had acted as lead ESD consultant managing green building certification program or participated as a key technical contributor analysing design performance in the team.