As part of MEL Consultants’ constant goal of providing the most detailed and relevant information to clients for all its service streams, MEL Consultants periodically host information nights for medium to large groups of people with various stakeholdings within projects. The groups can vary from government departments (e.g. DELWP, VicUrban), to architecture firms, to engineering firms (e.g. Robert Bird Group, WSP), or a combination of all.
The information sessions are tailored to the group attending but generally include a short presentation with QA throughout, followed by a guided tour of the wind tunnel facilities with demonstrations of MEL Consultants key service streams by MEL Consultants staff. The information sessions conclude with general discussion between the attending group and MEL Consultants’ staff members over light refreshments.
A paper presented at the SENG 2015 conference in Adelaide has been added to the blog database of a leading Australian solar company, Solar Choice Pty Ltd. The goal of this short discussion is to provide some historical guidance to the considerable research that has been done in numerous boundary-layer wind tunnels in Australia, North America and Europe over the last forty years to better understand the wind loads on various solar-energy collection devices on buildings and in the open field. The large number of geometric parameters (shape, stationary tilt angle, one axis tracking, two axis tracking, row spacing, porous perimeter fences, porous internal fences, approach roughness, parapets, roof appurtenances, roof edge distance, aerodynamic devices, etc.) means that many permutations are incomplete. However, some understanding of what has happened to date may avoid some duplicated effort. Follow the link to read in full.
http://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/news/on-wind-load-reduction-solar-arrays-field-building-roofs-010915
The Dr. Chau Chak Wing Building at the University of Technology, Sydney, was Frank Gehry's first architectural design in Australia. The brick facade formed a shape descibed as the "soft curves of fabric" and, as such, did not lend itself to defining the design pressures using AS/NZS1170. The builder, Lend Lease, commissioned MEL to perform a wind-tunnel study to establish the local cladding pressures on this 11-level building at the UTS City Campus. MEL congratulates the philanthropist, Dr. Chau Chak Wing, on adding an international landmark to the stock of Australian architecture.
Dr Bill Melbourne, MEL Founder and Emeritus Professor at Monash University, has been awarded the Jack E Cermak Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for his tireless work in the field of wind engineering, fluid mechanics, and turbulence. This presigious award is sponsored by the Society's Engineering Mechanics Division and the Structrual Engineering Institute, and was inscribed with the following notation: "For significant and life-long contributions to our understanding of the effects of turbulence in problems of bluff body aerodynamics pertinent to wind engineering applications". The presentation was held at the ASCE Structures Congress in Pitsburgh, Pennsylvania. Previous recipients of the Medal include such wind-engineering luminaries as: Alan Davenport, Ahsan Kareem, Ted Stathopoulos, and Nicholas Isyumov.