APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 1 of 23
BRIEF REPORT ON EIGHTH ASIA-PACIFIC CONFERENCE ON WIND
ENGINEERING (APCWE-VIII)
The Eighth Asia-Pacific Conference on Wind Engineering (APCWE-VIII) was successfully
organised by CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC) at Chennai during 10th to
14th December 2013, in association with International Association for Wind Engineering
(IAWE), Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and Indian Society for Wind
Engineering (ISWE), under the Chairmanship of Prof. Nagesh R. Iyer, Director, CSIR-
SERC. The conference has its legacy starting with the first event held at Roorkee/India
(1985), moving to Beijing/China (1989), Hong Kong/China (1993), Gold Coast/Australia
(1997), Tokyo/Japan (2001), Seoul/Korea (2005) and Taipei/Taiwan (2009). The conference
is convened every four years and CSIR-SERC had the privilege of hosting the event in India
after 28 years. The Patron of the conference was Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari, Director
General, CSIR, and Secretary, DSIR, Government of India.
The conference was attended by wind engineering researchers and practitioners from around
Asia and Pacific regions. The conference provided interaction among the participants which
is essential for identifying and conducting need-based and relevant-based R&D and providing
cost-effective solutions to challenging and complex industrial problems/environmental
problems to meet the requirements of the society. By and large, the following professionals
were benefited by the conference;
• Wind engineers and computational fluid dynamics application engineers
• Engineers in construction and power plant industries and in wind energy sector
• Wind disaster management and policy makers
• Personnel involved in formulation of guidelines for codes of practice
• Researchers in atmospheric sciences and application engineers
• Instrumentation technologists for health monitoring of full-scale structures
This report gives complete details about the conference, covering all the aspects from the
Committees formed for organising the conference, major events to the conference activities,
etc. The international scientific advisory board of the conference had experts in the field of
wind engineering. The members include:
Acir M Loredo-Souza, Brazil
Ahsan Kareem, USA
Alpa Sheth, India
S K Bhattacharyya, India
Chang-Koon Choi, Korea
Chii-Ming Cheng, Taiwan
Chris Letchford, USA
Chris P W Geurts, Netherlands
Claudio Borri, Italy
Dorothy A Reed, USA
T K Datta, India
Emil Simiu, USA
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 2 of 23
Andrzej Flaga, Poland
Gautam Biswas, India
Giovanni Solari, Italy
Hamid Yaghoubi, Iran
John D Holmes, Australia
Kenny C S Kwok, Australia
N Lakshmanan, India
Leighton Cochran, USA
Mark Serling, UK
Masaru Matsumoto, Japan
Kishor C Mehta, USA
Michael Kasperski, Germany
Ming Gu, China
Nagesh R Iyer, India
R N Nayak, India
H J Niemann, Germany
R Panneer Selvam, USA
Partha Sarkar, USA
Peter C King, Canada
P D Porey, India
Prem Krishna, India
Richard Flay, New Zealand
Rudiger Hoffer, Germany
Sergey Georgirvich Kuznetsov, Ukraine
P Seshu, India
Shuyang Cao, China
Ted Stathopoulos, Canada
William H Melbourne, Australia
Yaojun Ge, China
Yukio Tamura, Japan
The Local Organising Committee had Prof. Nagesh R. Iyer, Director, CSIR-SERC as
Chairman, Dr. S Gomathinayagam, Executive Director, Centre for Wind Energy and
Technology as Co-chairman, Prof. K. Ravisankar (CSIR-SERC) as Technical Secretary and
Shri C. Jeyabal (CSIR-SERC) as Administrative Secretary. The members include:
A Abraham, CSIR-SERC
Achal Mittal, ISWE/CBRI
Antony Jeyasehar, Annamalai University
P Chellapandi, IGCAR
Devdas Menon, IIT Madras
D V Giri, IWTMA
P Harikrishna, CSIR-SERC
K P Jaya, Anna University
K Jayasankar, UltraTech
Kamal Poddar, IIT Kanpur
S Arunachalam, JAL
T S Krishnamoorthy, CSIR-SERC
Lakshmy Parameswaran, CSIR-CRRI
S S Mani, BHEL
K Muthumani, CSIR-SERC
G S Palani, CSIR-SERC
P Paramasivam, NUS
K M Parammasivam, MIT
R Radhakrishnan, ICI
Y E A Raj, IMD
J Rajasankar, CSIR-SERC
G Ramesh Babu, CSIR-SERC
S Selvi Rajan, CSIR-SERC
B Sivarama Sarma, L&T Construction
S Thiagarajan, Fichtner
U S P Verma, NPCIL
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 3 of 23
Meeting of Local Organising Committee was held at regular intervals to discuss the action
plans in detail and obtain suggestions/work out strategies towards better planning for smooth
conduct of the conference.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The fliers and announcement brochures (Figure 1) were prepared and widely distributed
during international wind engineering conferences/events like 13th International conference
on wind engineering (ICWE) held at Amsterdam in 2011, 7th International colloquium on
bluff body aerodynamics & applications (BBAA7) held at Shanghai, China in 2012 and
national events like Sixth National conference on wind engineering (NCWE) held at New
Delhi, India in 2012. Also, announcement brochures had been sent to all major academic
institutions and industries all over the world. Further, posters (A3 size) about the conference
had been displayed in the notice boards of the academic institutions. The conference website
http://apcwe8.serc.res.in/ hosted all the announcements and updates.
Towards better visibility, brief details of the conference along with a link to the conference
website were displayed in IAWE and ISWE websites. Requests have been sent to Editors of
International Journals in the field of civil and structural engineering, mechanical engineering
and aerospace engineering to display these details in the journal websites. Similar
information was also added to the events column of Journal of Wind Engineering and
Industrial Aerodynamics, the official journal of IAWE as well as other international journals.
FLIER FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 4 of 23
SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Figure 1 Flier and Announcement Brochures
The deadlines pertaining to the submission of 4-page extended abstracts / full length papers
were:
Submission of 4-page extended abstract : 31st May 2013
Notification of acceptance of abstract : 14th June 2013
Submission of full-length paper : 30th August 2013
Early bird registration Deadline : 13th September 2013
Registration Deadline for publication : 21st October 2013
The mode of submission of 4-page extended abstracts / full length papers was online through
MyReview system, the online link for which was made available in the conference website.
A total of 198 numbers of 4-page extended abstracts were received from 16 countries.
REVIEW PROCESS
Every 4-page extended abstract was subjected to an extensive peer-review, by one Indian
expert and one International expert in wind engineering. A total of 125 reviewers were
engaged in the process of reviewing. Out of 125 reviewers, 69 reviewers were from India and
55 reviewers were from abroad. Few of the reviewers are members of editorial board of the
International journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics and other refereed
journals.
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 5 of 23
The reviewers’ comments were communicated to the authors along with the status of
acceptance of the abstracts. The authors were then asked to submit revised 4-page extended
abstract and full-length paper after incorporating the suggestions/comments of the reviewers.
PUBLICATION
A total of 161 technical papers, grouped under 13 technical themes were finally accepted for
publication, out of 198 technical papers received. The papers were grouped under thirteen
conference themes which included
1. Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (BLWT)
2. Bluff Body Aerodynamics (BBA)
3. Low and High Rise Building (LHB)
4. Aeroelasticity and Wind Structure Interaction (AE & WSI)
5. Wind Energy (WEg)
6. Field Measurement & Structural Health Monitoring (FMHM)
7. Bridge Aerodynamics (BA)
8. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
9. Wind Disaster Mitigation (WDM)
10. Urban Flow Dispersion Modelling and Wind Environment &Human
Comfort (UFDM & WEn)
11. Atmospheric Modelling (AM)
12. Codes of Practice (CoP)
13. Wind Climate Assessment & Climatic Modelling (WCA & CM)
The 4-page extended abstracts were published in hard copy form in Proceedings (cover page
shown in Figure 2) and the full-length papers were published in soft copy form in credit card
flash drive (shown in Figure 3).
(rear) (front)
Figure 2 Proceedings of the Eighth Asia-Pacific Conference on Wind Engineering
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 6 of 23
Figure 3 E- Proceedings of the conference in credit card flash drive
A Program Booklet containing detailed technical schedule was prepared and distributed to all
the participants. A souvenir (cover page shown in Figure 4) containing Messages for the
conference from eminent personalities and a Directory of wind tunnel facilities in India was
also brought out.
(rear) (front)
Figure 4 Souvenir cover page
front
rear
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 7 of 23
CONFERENCE
10th December 2013
The conference was conducted at Hotel Green Park, Chennai. The ice-breaking session on
10th December 2013 at 17:00 hours IST involved informal introduction and interaction
among delegates. Simultaneously, the participants registered themselves for the conference at
the Registration desk (Figure 5). Every delegate was assigned with a unique Delegate ID
(DID), with specific codes assigned for each category of delegates. The country code was
affixed to the DID. The various categories included:
(a) KS – Keynote Speaker
(b) IS – Invited Speaker
(c) DA – Delegate Author
(d) DP – Delegate Participant
(e) SF – Students under Financial Subsidy
(f) SK – International Student
(g) SF – Indian Student
(h) LC – Local Organising Committee Member
In totality, there were 292 registered participants, including 124 students representing 16
countries. There was a good representation from the industry as well. The conference kit
given to the delegates included a bag, conference proceedings (print form), program booklet
(print form), souvenir (print form), e-proceedings (credit card flash drive), note pad, pen,
CSIR-SERC annual report (CD form) and CSIR-SERC achievement CD.
Figure 5 Participants at registration desk
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 8 of 23
11th December 2013
INAUGURAL FUNCTION
The conference was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Honourable Member, National Disaster
Mitigation Authority (NDMA) Shri Bhattacharjee in traditional manner by lighting the lamp
(Figure 6) at 09:00 hours IST. Prof. Nagesh R. Iyer, Chairman, APCWE-VIII welcomed the
participants and media personnel and briefed the gathering about the significance of the
conference. He also emphasised the fact that the world is focussing “Wind” for harnessing
the energy as well as mitigating the effects of cyclonic wind storms and other extreme wind
events. Honourable Member, NDMA, Shri Bhattacharjee delivered the inaugural address,
wherein he mentioned about the role of modern technology in providing early warning
systems during cyclones, which could greatly facilitate in reducing loss of human lives. He
also stated the fact that cyclone shelters constructucted along the coastal regions had saved
lives of lakhs of people even during recent cyclone “Phailin” in India.
The inaugural function had Prof. Yukio Tamura, President, International Association for
Wind Engineering (IAWE) and Prof. Prem Krishna, Founder President, Indian Society for
Wind Engineering (ISWE) and Vice-President, Indian National Academy of Engineering
(INAE) as guests of honour. Prof. Yukio Tamura briefed about vaiours activities in the field
of wind engineering at international level, while Prof. Prem Krishna discussed about the Past,
Present and Future of Wind Engineering. Finally, the conference proceedings was released by
the Chief Guest (Figure 7)
Figure 6 Chief Guest, Honourable Member NDMA Shri Bhattacharjee lighting the lamp
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 9 of 23
Figure 7 Release of Conference Proceedings
PLENARY AND TECHNICAL SESSIONS
There were 12 Keynote presentations and 4 invited presentations by experts in the field of
wind engineering from all over the world, spread across 11th December 2013 to 13th
December 2013. The Keynote and Invited presentations were scheduled in the forenoon as
Plenary Sessions, while presentations of contributory papers were scheduled in the afternoon
as Technical Sessions. Each of the Plenary and Technical session was chaired by two eminent
researchers from Wind Engineering fraternity. Detailed schedule of technical sessions along
with details of Chairs is presented in Annexure-A. Further, in each technical session, two
rapporteurs were present, who were a part of the group to recommend papers those could be
considered for publication in the Journal of Structural Engineering and Journal of Wind and
Engineering. The group provided a list of 26 papers for consideration by the expert
committee for finalisation.
The inaugural function was followed by first Plenary Session at 10:30 hours IST, which had
three Keynote presentations by experts.
Title: Aerodynamic and response characteristics of super-tall
buildings with various configurations
Speaker: Prof. Yukio Tamura, Japan
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 10 of 23
Title: Aerodynamics of atypical footbridges
Speaker: Prof. Andrzej Flaga, Poland
Title: Contemporary wind engineering studies in India
Speaker: Prof. Nagesh R. Iyer, India
The Plenary Session was followed by Sponsors presentations by M/s Larsen and Toubro and
M/s Measurement Specialties Inc, USA at 12:30 hours IST.
The technical sessions in the afternoon began at 14:00 hours IST, in which contributory
papers under 13 conference themes listed earlier were presented. To accommodate large
number of contributory papers, five parallel sessions were conducted, with each of the five
sessions featuring different conference themes listed below:
(i) Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (BLWT)
(ii) Aeroelasticity and Wind Structure Interaction (AE & WSI)
(iii) Bridge Aerodynamics (BA)
(iv) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
(v) Low and High Rise Building (LHB)
In the post-tea technical sessions at 16:00 hours IST, papers under the following themes were
presented in five parallel sessions.
(i) Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (BLWT)
(ii) Aeroelasticity and Wind Structure Interaction (AE & WSI)
(iii) Bridge Aerodynamics (BA)
(iv) Urban Flow Dispersion Modelling and Wind Environment & Human Comfort
(UFDM & WEn)
(v) Low and High Rise Building (LHB)
20 YEAR CELEBRATION OF INDIAN SOCIETY FOR WIND ENGINEERING
The Indian Society for Wind Engineering (ISWE), founded in 1993 by Prof. Prem Krishna
completed 20 years in 2013. A celebration in this regard was organised by ISWE, after
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 11 of 23
technical sessions, at 18:30 hours IST. During the celebration, M. Tech Thesis Award for the
academic years 2010-2011, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 were distributed to the awardees.
ISWE conferred Honorary Fellow Award and Life Time Achievement Award during the
event. ISWE Honorary Fellow Award was given to Prof. Yukio Tamura, President,
International Association for Wind Engineering (IAWE) and Prof. Kishor C. Mehta Director,
Hazard Mitigation and Structural Engineering Program, National Science Foundation, USA.
Life Time Achievement Award in Wind Engineering in India was awarded to Prof. Prem
Krishna, Founder President, Indian Society for Wind Engineering and Vice-President, Indian
National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and Dr. N. Lakshmanan, former Director and
Project Advisor, CSIR-SERC, and Former President, ISWE. The past Presidents, past
Secretaries and present Executive Committee members were also honoured by ISWE.
CULTURAL PROGRAM
A cultural program was organised at 19:30 hours IST, which followed 20 year celebration of
ISWE. The cultural program featured Bharata Natyam, a classical dance form of Tamil Nadu.
The cultural program was followed by Conference Banquet dinner.
12th December 2013
The program on 12th December 2013 began at 09:00 hours IST, with the second Plenary
Session, which had Keynote presentations by three eminent speakers listed below:
Title: Cyclone disaster mitigation in cities
Speaker: Prof. Kishor C. Mehta, USA
Title: Simplified analytical model for across-wind response of
chimneys around critical wind velocity regions
Speaker: Dr. N. Lakshmanan, India
Title: Full-scale wind engineering measurements in New Zealand
Speaker: Prof. Richard G.J. Flay, New Zealand
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 12 of 23
The third Plenary Session at 11:15 hours IST, had Invited presentations by four speakers
listed below:
Title: Cyclone disaster mitigation efforts by CSIR-SERC towards
engineering of non-engineered and semi-engineered dwellings
Speaker: Dr. P. Harikrishna, India
Title: Gust wind speeds for design of structures
Speaker: Dr. John Ginger, Australia
Title: The fundamentals of building internal pressure dynamics
induced through a dominant opening
Speaker: Prof. Rajnish N Sharma, New Zealand
Title: Performance of light-frame structures subject to extreme
wind loads
Speaker: Prof. Vijaya (VJ) Gopu, USA
The Plenary Sessions were followed by Sponsors presentations by M/s Centre for Wind
Energy and Technology (C-WET), Chennai.
In the five parallel technical sessions of contributory papers in the afternoon at 14:00 hours
IST, papers under the following themes were presented
(i) Bluff Body Aerodynamics (BBA)
(ii) Wind Energy (WEg)
(iii) Wind Disaster Mitigation (WDM)
(iv) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
(v) Low and High Rise Building (LHB)
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 13 of 23
The five parallel technical sessions, post-tea at 15:50 hours IST, featured papers in the
following themes
(i) Low and High Rise Building (LHB)
(ii) Wind Energy (WEg)
(iii) Wind Disaster Mitigation (WDM)
(iv) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
(v) Field Measurement & Structural Health Monitoring (FMHM)
REGIONAL MEETING OF IAWE
After technical sessions on 12th December 2013, a closed group regional meeting of IAWE
was conducted at 18:00 hours IST. Specific members of IAWE were invited for the meeting
to select the organiser and venue of Ninth Asia-Pacific conference on wind engineering.
13th December 2013
The program on 13th December 2013 had fourth and fifth Plenary Sessions at 09:00 hours IST
and 11:20 hours IST, with three speakers in each Plenary Session.
Speakers of fourth Plenary Session
Title: Advances in wind tunnel simulation, techniques and tools for
assessing extreme-wind hazard to structures
Speaker: Prof. Partha P. Sarkar, USA
Title: Wind loading and response of structures in mixed climates
Speaker: Prof. Giovanni Solari, Italy
Title: Wind power: the way-forward in India
Speaker: Dr. S. Gomathinayagam, India
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 14 of 23
Speakers of fifth Plenary Session
Title: Development of critical load cases simulating the effect of
downbursts and tornados on transmission line structures
Speaker: Prof. Ashraf El Damatty, Canada
Title: Advanced physical and numerical modeling of Atmospheric
Boundary Layer and their applications
Speaker: Prof. Shuyang Cao, China
Title: Design of cyclone shelters based on wind tunnel studies
Speaker: Dr. S. Selvi Rajan, India
The five parallel technical sessions of contributory papers at 14:00 hours IST covered the
following themes:
(i) Atmospheric Modelling (AM)
(ii) Wind Energy (WEg)
(iii) Codes of Practice (CoP)
(iv) Bluff Body Aerodynamics (BBA)
(v) Wind Climate Assessment & Climatic Modelling (WCA & CM)
TECHNICAL SUMMATION
All the technical sessions were highly interactive. All the queries posed by the audience were
suitably answered by the presenting author. Discussion slips were issued to the delegates in
technical sessions, to collect queries and suggestions from the delegates/experts for the
speaker.
Out of 161 contributory papers, around 136 papers have been presented in the conference in
25 technical sessions. The main reason for the reduced number of presentations is the
inability of the authors to attend the conference. The distribution of the number of papers
presented under 13 conference themes are shown in Figure 8. The number of papers in each
theme is also indicated in the figure. Further, the number of papers presented from various
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 15 of 23
countries (excluding India) is shown in Figure 9. From India, seventy (70) papers were
presented, whereas from abroad a total of sixty six (66) papers were presented.
Figure 8 Distribution of the number of papers presented under various conference themes
Figure 9 Distribution of the number of papers presented from various countries (abroad)
More contributory papers were presented under the themes of Low and high Rise Buildings
(LHB) followed by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Wind Energy (WEg).
Nonetheless, Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Testing (BLWT) and Wind Disaster Mitigation
(WDM) themes also attracted good number of research papers. Some of the key research
topics currently studied all over the world by the wind engineering fraternity in accordance
with the conference themes have been listed, which will aid in opening up new challenges
and provide better insights into revisiting current problems.
12
9
14
9
4
18
5
23
7
12
17
2
4
0
5
10
15
20
25 Number of papers presented
4
2
13
2
4
2
19
7
1 1
45
1 1
0
5
10
15
20Number of papers presented
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 16 of 23
Low and high Rise Buildings (LHB)
(i) Analytical models for across wind response in tall buildings and chimneys
Numerous approximations have been made at various stages of analytical modelling of across
wind response in case of tall buildings chimneys have led to variations in response prediction
using the models. Despite a number of models developed based on wind tunnel and full-scale
experiments, even the recent research studies show scatter in the prediction of response of
structures subjected to vortex excitation. Improved analytical models need to be developed,
as well as simplified to be recommended in the Codes of Practice.
(ii) Rational estimate of peak factor in non-Gaussian wind conditions
Wide band nature of pressure fluctuations or non-Gaussianity in certain flow regions around
low to medium rise structures cause heavy tailed, negatively skewed probability distributions.
Peak factors in such scenarios tend to be overestimated by the traditional formulae and a
more rational estimate of peak factor, which could better treat the softening process, will be
required for future applications.
(iii) Multi-hazard scenario in tall buildings
Quantifying the risk assessment of a tall building due to multi-hazard scenario is considered
as grey area of research, since it depends on many parameters. Systematic detailed
experimental or analytical studies to develop design guidelines are needed in order to
understand the complexity/uncertainty involved in the design of tall building which are
exposed due to multiple hazard.
(iv) Active/ semi-active control strategies to control response of tall building
Active / semi-active control mechanisms in suppressing the vibrations which are introduced
in tall buildings due to lateral loads are being studied through analytically/numerically and
experimentally, at laboratory level. Full-scale application of these control strategies to actual
structures will lead to validating analytical/simulation procedures, verifying the complex
systems under actual loading conditions and its capabilities.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
(i) Numerical modelling of extreme wind effects
Numerical modelling of extreme wind events like microburst, downburst / tornadoes has till
date been a challenging task, with exceptionally limited knowledge about the actual
characteristics of such events near the ground. Attempts have been made all over the world to
numerically simulate thunderstorm downbursts, wherein unsteady jet flows with various
characteristics have been simulated. The deeper understanding of the modified boundary
layer characteristics during extreme wind events, as opposed to extreme wind events is
becoming the need of the hour.
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 17 of 23
(ii) Wake aerodynamics of wind turbines / buildings and structures
Simulation of aerodynamics of structures, especially in the wake region has been a grand
challenge problem in Computational Fluid Dynamics, even till date. With turbulence
modelling being the key challenge in applicability of CFD to practical problems, improved
turbulence models for complex flow scenarios is to be pursued for making the tool more
reliable. Especially in wind turbines, the accurate prediction of wake can aid in greater extent
to improve power generation.
(iii) Inflow turbulence generation for various terrain categories for Large Eddy Simulation
Large Eddy Simulation (LES) in CFD requires accurate modelling of the inflow turbulence,
in order to ensure obtaining more accurate results. Generation of more realistic vortices and
compliance of the generated turbulence spectrum with the expected/required turbulent
spectrum needs to be ensured for improved accuracy of LES in Computational Wind
Engineering problems, especially for building aerodynamic studies.
Wind Energy (WEg)
(i) Micro siting of wind turbines in wind farms
With the size of wind farms increasing drastically, the wakes tend to get bigger, leading to a
highly complex flow situation. Micro siting of wind turbines, in order to minimise the effect
of growing wake on the adjacent wind turbine depends up on many parameters such as local
topography, wind conditions and diameter of rotor, etc. Even though some guidelines are
available for micro siting of wind turbines in plain terrain and complex terrain based on
computational or numerical methods, usage of wind tunnel for micro siting needs to be
further investigated.
(ii) Improvisation of performance efficiency of wind turbines
Wind energy being the talk of the day, improvisation of performance efficiency of small and
medium size wind turbines are being attempted by many researchers in many ways.
Systematic wind tunnel investigations / CFD studies under desired turbulence levels will lead
to improve rotational efficiency and increased power production.
(iii) Energy harvesting from aero-elastic instabilities
Recently, researchers had attempted in converting the aero-elastic instabilities (galloping
instabilities introduced in the device due to very low wind speed) into electrical energy via
electromagnetism and used for electronic/electrical devices which consumes minimum
current/voltage. Detailed studies are required to understand the concept in order to make use
of aero-elastic instabilities of buildings/structures into power production and storing it.
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 18 of 23
Wind Disaster Mitigation (WDM)
(i) Modelling windborne debris during extreme winds
Flying debris during extreme wind conditions are leading to loss of life and damaging
neighbouring structures, as they are carried away in the wind. Few analytical/numerical
studies have been carried out in order to understand the characteristics of debris during strong
winds. Detailed studies to develop design guidelines are needed in order to mitigate the
impact force on building façade with glass panels.
(ii) Physical simulation of extreme wind effects
Physical simulation of extreme wind effects on models of low-rise buildings has been coming
up using mechanical devices in order to understand the phenomenon which takes place
around the building model. Detailed studies are needed in order to understand the interaction
between wind and structure during strong winds and to derive the methods to mitigate the
damage level due to such effects on medium-rise and high-rise buildings.
(iii) Vortex spoilers in structures and in vehicles
The role of provision of vortex spoilers is to minimize the cross wind effects in case of
buildings and increase the performance efficiency in case of vehicles. In the recent past, the
application of vortex spoilers has been extended to bridge decks and wind turbine blades.
(iv) Mitigation of vibrations of cables in cable-stayed bridges
Low damping and very close modes of vibration makes the cables in cable-stayed bridges
highly susceptible to large vibration. Dampers installed near the anchorages have to be
designed by considering the non-linearities in these damping devices, in order to optimally
utilise the potential of dampers in controlling the vibrations.
Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Testing (BLWT)
(i) Assessment of snow loads on structures in specially designed snow wind tunnels
Snow loads on membrane type structures have been one of the major loads that are to be
considered for the design of structures, in addition to wind loads. Specialised snow wind
tunnels (low wind speed)/climatic wind tunnels are being envisaged in order to assess the
combined action of snow and wind on structures.
(ii) Specialised terrain simulation (hilly terrain)
Simulation of wind characteristics (wind speed, turbulence intensity profiles and wind
direction) for hilly terrain using boundary layer wind tunnel is still a challenging task for
researchers in the field of wind engineering, due to scaling effect, roughness of the model of
hills, and measuring devices.
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 19 of 23
(iii) Particle Image Velocimetry and Laser Doppler measurement studies in boundary layer
wind tunnel
Application of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Laser Doppler Velocimetry studies in
boundary layer wind tunnels for complex flow situations like turbulent flow around structures
to get pressure fields, vortex identification and coherent structures needs further improvement
in terms of accuracy, resolution, applicability to larger dimension objects, etc.
Aeroelasticity and Wind-Structure Interaction (AE & WSI)
Analytical and experimental fluid structure interaction studies on large horizontal axis wind
turbines and special structures / complex lighting poles and antennas
Evaluation of loads and its responses of structures like wind turbine support towers, wind
turbine blades, on-shore steel jacket platforms, lighting poles, etc, has been emphasised
through wind tunnel investigations / CFD – FEA coupled simulation. Detailed studies to
develop design guidelines for fatigue life of these structures are needed in order to avoid
damage.
Bridge Aerodynamics (BA)
(i) Rain-wind induced vibration of stay cables
Cable stayed bridge have outnumbered other types of bridges for medium to long span
bridges in the past few decades, in which serviceability issues involving vibrations of large
amplitudes under combined rain and wind action have been observed. Detailed studies to
develop design guidelines are needed in order to fully understand and mitigate the excessive
vibrations.
(ii) Uncertainties in FE Models of bridge response
Modal analysis and response prediction of bridges, carried out using Finite Element Analysis
(FEA) towards design of bridges have inherent structural uncertainties in terms of beam-
column joints, load and mass simulation, etc, in addition to highly turbulent wind conditions.
These uncertainties need to be quantified and corrected, before application of the technique to
practical bridge engineering problems.
Field Measurement & Structural Health Monitoring (FMHM)
(i) Wireless sensor network for online health monitoring from response
Field measurement of wind and associated response of life-line structures such as long span
cable stayed bridges, tall buildings, TV towers, monuments/heritage buildings are being
picking up worldwide by instrumenting with hundreds of wireless sensors of various types at
different locations under on-line mode is to understand its performance during extreme wind
conditions and to find the ways to mitigate the damage. Methodology for selection/placing
the sensors at appropriate location in network form and transmission and handling of huge
data base of wind and its associated response needs further improvement.
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 20 of 23
(ii) Model identification techniques of full-scale structures
Different techniques in extracting the model parameters from the response sources are being
adopted for vertical structures viz tall buildings, TV tower, etc, for lateral loading.
Methodology to identify the model parameters from minimum response sources for large
scale structures needs further investigation.
Codes of Practice (CoP)
Wind effects on roof mounted PV and solar panels
With modern day emphasis on renewable energy sources for power generation, photovoltaic
and solar panels are being extensively used, for which the design loads are not available in
the International codes of practice for wind loads. Systematic wind tunnel investigations will
lead to rational design guidelines for such roof mounted/ground based PV and solar panels,
either in individual or when in an array.
Urban Flow Dispersion Modelling and Wind Environment & Human Comfort (UFDM
& WEn)
(i) Building ventilation studies and thermal effects
Towards energy efficient design of buildings, the maximum utilisation of natural ventilation
is sought of in recent times. The effect of natural flow around buildings in the indoor air
quality/environment in complex urban environment, where the surrounding buildings cause a
greater influence, needs to be systematically studied. These studies would aid in creating
sustainable building environment.
(ii) Analytical studies on pollutant dispersion to study pollutant concentrations in urban
environment
Air pollution causes serious environmental threat, with faster industrial growth. Human
comfort is greatly affected due to pollutants that are carried with the wind. Analytical models
that predict the pollutant concentration in urban environment/cities need to be envisaged.
Upon validation of the results from these models, more stringent control norms can be put
into practice.
VALEDICTORY FUNCTION
The technical sessions were followed by the official valedictory function of the conference.
The Chief Guest of the valedictory function was Prof. Kishor C. Mehta Director, Hazard
Mitigation and Structural Engineering Program, National Science Foundation, USA. In the
valedictory address, he emphasised three key aspects, viz, “resilience, adaptability and
sustainability” to be considered by young researchers in their future as these three
parameters would lead to better environment. Prof. Nagesh R. Iyer, Chairman, APCWE-
VIII, briefed about the intense knowledge sharing that took place during the conference,
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 21 of 23
giving it a completely new dimension. He also mentioned that every presentation was being
assessed for probable publication in the Journal of Wind Energy as well as Journal of
Structural Engineering. This was a unique initiative taken by the organisers of APCWE-VIII.
He congratulated the organisers for the successful conduct of the event.
Figure 10 Prof. Kishor C. Mehta delivering valedictory address
A few delegates were invited to express their impressions about the conference. The
delegates who spoke expressed their appreciation for the smooth and successful conduct of
the conference and congratulated each member of the CSIR-SERC staff involved in
organising an event of this magnitude. Prof. Kishor C. Mehta, Chief Guest of the Valedictory
Function, requested all the delegates to give standing ovation for the organisers for
conducting the international event in an excellent way.
Figure 11 Prof. Flaga Andrzej from Poland expressing his impressions about the conference
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 22 of 23
These delegates representing abroad and India expressed that they thoroughly enjoyed the
technical deliberations during the conference and hospitality extended by the conference
organisers. There was a special mention about the accommodation arrangements made by the
organisers for delegates.
EXHIBITION STALLS
The exclusive sponsors’ sessions, were well received by all the participants. The exhibition
stalls (Figure 12) by M/s Measurement Specialties, M/s LaVision, M/s Centre for Wind
Energy and Technology, M/s State Bank of India, Academy of Scientific and Innovative
Research (AcSIR) and CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre put up at the conference
venue received overwhelming response.
Figure 12 Exhibition stalls at the conference venue
14th December 2013
POST CONFERENCE TOUR
A post conference tour to Dakshina Chitra and Mahabalipuram was organised for the
delegates of the conference at no additional cost. Dakshina Chitra is a centre for the living
traditions of art, folk, performing arts, craft and architecture of India with an emphasis on the
traditions of South India. Mahabalipuram is an ancient historic town, which displays a group
of sanctuaries, carved out of rock in the 7th and 8th centuries. It includes rathas (temples in
the form of chariots), mandapas (cave sanctuaries), giant open-air reliefs, and the Shore
Temple, with thousands of sculptures. It has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. Figure 13 shows photographs of delegates enjoying the tour.
APCWE-VIII Report 10-14 December 2013, CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India Page 23 of 23
Figure 13 Delegates enjoying the post conference tour
SUMMARY
This document is a brief report on the Eight Asia-Pacific Conference on Wind Engineering
organised by CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC) at Chennai during 10th to
14th December 2013, in association with International Association for Wind Engineering
(IAWE), Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and Indian Society for Wind
Engineering (ISWE). The document provides a glimpse of the event, covering all major
aspects. Based on the papers presented in the conference and technical
discussions/deliberations, few key areas of research have been identified and listed, which
would further open up new frontiers in wind engineering research.
Top Related