A five-year Cooperative Research Program in Wind Engineering (CRPWE) between Colorado State University and Texas Tech University has been set in motion with two major objectives. The first, to focus an interdisciplinary effort on selected wind engineering research problems related to the quality and safety of the human environment. The second, to contribute the results of research to the activities of the upcoming United States Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (USDNDR) and to the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). The CRPWE will be guided by an external Technology Assessment and Advisory Council (TAAC) consisting of ten to twelve nationally and internationally recognized experts in wind engineering. Faculty, graduate and undergraduate students from different Departments and from both Universities will exchange freely between the two institutions. Several tasks identifying specific research problems in wind engineering will be addressed by CRPWE by focussing on the measurement of flow and structural behavior of full-scale buildings and structures, physical models of the same and similar configurations in meteorological wind tunnels, validation of analytical and numerical wind engineering models, and extrapolation of the results to design codes and engineering practice. Wind loads on low- rise buildings, non-boundary layer simulation, building roofing performance, prediction of extreme wind, and numerical modeling of flow are some of the topics to be investigated interdisciplinarily. The data gathered, the evaluations performed and the design recommendations prepared from the research performed will lead to a safer and economically more viable building environment, better able to protect people, and capable of withstanding the onslaught of hurricanes, tornadoes, and windstorms.
