Wind Effects on Façade Systems

Identifying and Reducing the Risk of Façade Failure

Wind-induced façade failures are costly—to budgets, to reputations, sometimes to lives. We help you reduce the risks (or cope with problems) creatively and cost effectively. 

Our service

We show how the skin of your structure—its cladding & components (C&C) and secondary cladding systems—is affected by the wind climate at your site.

We investigate residential and commercial developments of all shapes and sizes, including high-rise towers, stadia, airports, convention centers, sculptures, solar installations and many other special or complex structures.

How we work with you will vary depending on the stage of your project. For early design decisions, we leverage our knowledge: Our experienced practitioners can anticipate many wind-related issues. As the design evolves, we refine the strategy with specific investigations. Depending on your needs, we may do wind-tunnel testing of physical models, analysis of computational models, or desk-based assessments. In testing, we may collect hundreds of force, pressure or velocity measurements, as needed. We combine these data with meteorological data on the local wind climate to predict wind-induced responses.

Whatever the approach, our work is informed by decades of consulting on projects around the world. With our global presence, we respond quickly and sensitively to regional differences in culture, design, climate and risk.  

We put our conclusions into context for you and your clients. Results are delivered in design-ready, visual, easy-to-share formats. We excel at presenting complicated wind-related issues simply.

And if the data show problems, we don’t just report them; we’ll collaborate with you to solve them creatively. When needed, we call on the whole range of our company’s exceptional expertise in areas beyond wind engineering. Always, our goal is to choose the right tools and methods to answer your questions.