Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

The applicant, Prof. Theodore Stathopoulos, has designed and established Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel installed in the Building Aerodynamics Laboratory of Concordia University in early 1980s. Since its establishment, the wind tunnel has been used for the study of all wind-building interactions such as the determination of wind pressures on buildings, the assessment of wind environment around building configurations, the evaluation of dispersion of pollutants emitted from buildings, the ventilation in buildings and all wind-related issues in the urban environment including evaluation of wind energy potential. The applicant has focused his research on the assessment of wind effects on buildings and has contributed to the improvement of their fundamental understanding. The outcome of this research has been clearly involved in the development of provisions of wind standards and codes of practice of different countries including the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC).*The applicant aspires to upgrading the existing pressure measuring system (DSM/ZOC system) used for wind loading measurements in the boundary layer wind tunnel laboratory of Concordia University. The research tool and instrument requested consists of four units of MPS 4264 (Miniature Pressure Scanner) and their accessories for setup. There are many benefits in using the MPS 4264 over the current ZOC33/DSM34000 system that will overcome the technical limitations for conducting wind tunnel experiments required for several ongoing research projects. These research studies are novel in the evaluation of wind loads on buildings and their components (solar panels, canopies, mullions, balconies and the like). Wind building codes and standards are eagerly awaiting the research outcomes from these particular research studies in order to generate relevant design provisions. Also, the achievement of the required progress on the associated students' theses depends to a great extent on upgrading the wind pressure measurement instrumentation which allows proceeding with the wind tunnel experimental research. It is necessary to point out that research students can easily get to grips with MPS 4264 and can stay current with research data collection and traceability.*The requested instrumentation will be purchased from Scanivalve Corporation at a total cost of $ 130,557.*