Wind Tests Mandatory for Buildings above 45 Floors in Mumbai
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has made it mandatory for wind tunnel tests to be conducted on high-rise buildings in Mumbai that are more than 150 metres (above 45-50 floors) tall. The Mumbai civic body’s Technical Committee for High-Rise Buildings said the decision was taken to ensure the structural safety of tall buildings. “We have made it mandatory for conducting wind tunnel testing whenever a new proposal is submitted for buildings taller than 150 meters,” said Shashank Mehendale, a structural engineer who is a member of the committee. “It is not some add-on as it is already there in the tall buildings code of 2017, but we have just made it mandatory in the high rise-committee’s Standard Operating Procedure. The idea was to have a uniform or common SOP for all tall building proposals rather than deciding case-to-case." Wind tunnel testing is used in the design of tall buildings globally to identify wind-induced structural loads and responses for which the superstructure must be built. The BMC’s high-rise committee said the decision to make wind tunnel testing mandatory was taken in the backdrop of an increase in high-wind episodes in Mumbai. "Wind tunnel testing will help one to understand how the wind pressure, forces and pattern will be generated on the structural elements including the beam and columns of a building,” said Mehendale, who is also chairman of the structural sub-committee of the Practicing Engineers Architects and Town Planners Association (PEATA). “There are certain wind forces prescribed by the Indian Standard Code that have to be maintained for a particular design, and the wind tunnel testing will help us arrive at more realistic (estimates of) wind forces and (ensure) safer high-rise buildings," he said. The codes state that wind effects on buildings with a height more than 150 meters shall be determined by a wind tunnel study.
Tags : Wind Tests Mandatory Buildings above 45 Floors Mumbai Shashank Mehendale a structural engineer The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)