The ASCE/SEI Wind Effects Booklet

The ASCE/SEI Wind Effects Booklet Task Committee is developing a booklet, which will familiarize structural engineers, architects, builders and inspectors with the various ways in which the wind can influence the design and construction of their projects. The common queries that are often posed by people new to the various aspects of wind engineering will be readily addressed in this brief and simple booklet. The intent is that the text and figures will illustrate the complex phenomena of wind/structure interaction in a less technical fashion than ASCE members are typically used to seeing in their professional lives. In this manner, it is hoped that the booklet will be useful in explaining wind-related issues to clients, architects, builders and owners. This will allow the structural engineers' requirements to be more readily understood by other members of the project team. It is likely that the ASCE/SEI Wind Effects Booklet will be of value in the educational engineering and architecture arenas as well. The reader will see the nature of various extreme wind types (hurricanes, tornados, downbursts etc.) and how designers try to codify their impact on the anthropogenic environment. The following discussion will outline the topics to be presented in the ASCE/SEI Wind Effects Booklet and give some credit to the authors who have contributed to it. At the time of the 2005 Structures Congress in New York City the Wind Effects Booklet should be going through the peer-review process.