The Americas
BAM South, Brooklyn, New York
A detailed climate study was conducted to confirm that the extreme wind climate for New York is not governed by hurricane winds for return periods up to 700years.
An instrumented model of the study building was prepared and set up in the wind tunnel within a proximity model of this part of Brooklyn.
Scenarios investigated included open and effectively sealed cases for the operable sections of the façade and both existing and future surrounds cases.
All façade pressures were more than 20% lower than the estimates by ASCE 7. The study included real time differential pressure measurements for the various vertical fins that run along the edges of the tower.
Modelling of the effect of the isolated case showed that it would be better overall to exclude this case from the worst case scenario, especially since the New York Code follows ASCE 7-02.
In addition to the 2D contour diagrams of the maximum and minimum net pressures, 3D models overlaid with pressure contours for each of the 3 surrounds configurations investigated were presented.
