RodneyAndTibebu

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20191024_124528

welcome

Our team’s main research objective focuses on enhancing performance of new and existing civil infrastructure (such as buildings, green and energy infrastructure) for wind and other climate stressors. Our team is actively working on modeling of (i) extreme wind effects (e.g. hurricane and tornado) on buildings and neighborhoods and other wind sensitive structures, (ii) interplay between aerodynamics and other micro-climate stressors for climate responsive (sustainable) building design (e.g. aerodynamic effects on thermal and energy performance of buildings, wind performance of mass timber buildings etc.), and (iii) wind-driven-ventilation/rain/snow and wind-borne debris studies). Our research utilize a combination of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based modeling and simulations (and more recently assisted with Artificial Intelligence) in a high-performance computing environment at Sharcnet, and physical experiments at the WindEEE Dome (large scale) and the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory (BLWTL-model scale).

The team leader Dr. Bitsuamlak serves as the Site-leader for SHARCNET computing center, and the Research Director both for the WindEEE Research Institute that houses the WindEEE Dome, and the historical boundary layer wind tunnel laboratory (BLWTL) at Western. He is a Fellow of CSCE and recipient of NSF Career, Ontario Early Researcher and Canadian Research Chair awards.

Keywords: Wind load, hurricane, tornado, building science, CFD, wind tunnel, AI, aerodynamics, energy and thermal performance, architectural engineering, computational wind engineering, wind engineering, LES.

Research Areas

Climate/Wind Engineering

Computational Wind Engineering (CWE)

CWE is becoming relevant with advances in software and hardware technology. Various CFD workflows in high performance computing environment are developed that enabled numerical evaluation of peak pressure coefficients Cp for generating wind loads on high- and low-rise buildings; tornadic, downburst and hurricane induced load evaluations; natural ventilation and other building science applications; pedestrian level wind assessment, complex topography effect on wind (speed-up); aerodynamic optimization of tall buildings and long span bridge sections; exposure assessments; community level wind (and other climate stressors) effect assessment.

Experimental Wind Engineering

This includes boundary layer wind tunnel based wind load evaluations for design of tall buildings, long span roofs, long span bridge, solar panels/trackers, cladding and components etc. either through aerodynamic and aeroelastic test methods. Also, evaluation of tornadic and downburst loads on essential structures and large scale wind experiments for hurricane by using WindEEE Dome facility. Performance based wind engineering. Bench mark experimetnal aerodyamic data generation for valdiating the computational models.

Building Science and Aerodynamics

Our team is developing climate responsive architectural engineering design and retrofit methods where we model the interplay between aerodynamics (effect of architectural forms and details on wind pressure) and other micro-climate stressors (e.g. thermal load). This is enabling us to rationally assess impact of architectural forms, details and aerodynamics on the thermal and energy performance of buildings, envelops, fenestration, etc. We also look at the effect surroundings through neighborhood scale modeling and simulations.

Design of Mass Timber Buildings for Wind

Studying the performance of low-, mid-, and high-rise engineered timber buildings under synoptic, and non-synoptic wind systems. Developing performance based wind engineering methods. Dynamic characterization of tall mass timber buildings.

AI Assisted Design and Analysis

Developing AI assisted wind and climate analysis and design of buildings and neighborhoods. AI based methods are being developed for building energy monitoring, for use as surrogate modes for aerodynamic and energy performace optimizations, and feature extraction from LIDAR and other remotely sensed data useful for micro-climate modeling.

BIM for Climate Responsive Design

Developing workflows for various BIM models at various level of development (LOD) for use in CWE and Building Science applications, and for enabling digital Twin models for built-environment where the concepts of resilient and climate responsive architectural engineering can be implemented following an integrated design philosophy.

What's New

Dr. Girma Bitsuamlak, Western University – Hurricane and tornado-proofing the world’s built treasures

Many of the world’s most iconic structures, such as the Freedom Tower in New York City, the International Commerce Centre in Hong Kong or the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, had a Canadian professor guiding the extreme wind-proofing necessary for their structural integrity.
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Congratulations Kate, your research team is very proud and continue to be role model for women in engineering

Engineering graduate student and Mustangs track and field and cross-country star Kate Current was named one of Canada’s top student-athletes. She was recognized with the Governor General’s Academic All-Canadian Commendation in a ceremony at Rideau Hall on Jan. 26.
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CTBUH Member in Focus: Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory

Founded and designed by civil engineering professor Alan G. Davenport, BLWTL was built to test structures in realistic wind conditions in a scaled simulation of the earth’s boundary layer (the section of the atmosphere where the velocity of wind increases with height and air is turbulent and variable), extending upward from the Earth’s surface approximately one kilometer.
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