Brazil and Argentina joint program in wind engineerind

Abstract

Research and development on Wind Engineering in Brazil and Argentina are mainly concentrated in three institutions: (i) the Laboratório de Aerodinâmica das Construções of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (LAC-UFRGS), located in the city of Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, (ii) the Laboratorio de Aerodinámica of the Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (LA-UNNE), located in the city of Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina and (iii)

Vento-S Consulting, also in Porto Alegre. Since the beginning of the 1990 ́s, LAC-UFRGS and LA-UNNE have been increasing mutual cooperation in research, education and development. Each institution counts with a boundary layer wind tunnel as shown in Figs. 1 (Blessmann, 1982) and 2 (Wittwer and Möller, 2000). In recent years Vento-S has joined the group and is currently on the design phase of its own wind tunnel. The labs have developed extensive research with the aim to form the basis of the Brazilian and Argentinian Wind Codes, but current research is more focused on extreme winds (non-synoptic), bridge behavior, vicinity effects, transmission lines and wind energy. This means that the study of the aeroelastic behaviour of structures is of paramount importance, as well as topography effects are very important. Environmental wind engineering is also being addressed, mainly through particle dispersion and wind driven rain.