Wind Tunnel Testing for Supertall Buildings

Wind Tunnel
Wind Tunnerl
SOM Wind Tunnel

Mitigating wind forces is a key consideration for the world’s tallest buildings. To gain insight early in the design process, SOM built a wind tunnel in our Chicago studio. The facility allows our teams to test design concepts in real time and to conduct ongoing research.

Research Facts
  • Collaborators
    Dr. Nicholas Isyumov, Professor Emeritus, Western University The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Penn State University North Park University David Morrish
Research Facts
  • Collaborators
    Dr. Nicholas Isyumov, Professor Emeritus, Western University The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Penn State University North Park University David Morrish

A powerful tool for understanding wind performance

One of the main considerations for any supertall tower is how it will resist wind forces, which can cause tall, slender buildings to sway. Wind against the tower can create concentrated vortices that cause the structure to vibrate. The issue is not only one of safety, but also comfort for the building’s occupants.

Finding the right shape for the tower can dramatically reduce these effects. For decades, SOM’s integrated teams of architects and engineers have pioneered new approaches to mitigating wind forces for supertall towers, and wind tunnel testing is one of the most effective tools to evaluate the performance of a design before it is built.

Air flow simulations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to visualize flow patterns and vortex formation around a proposed tower design..
Air flow simulations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to visualize flow patterns and vortex formation around a proposed tower design.. © SOM

Building our own facility

Few, if any, architecture firms have their own wind tunnel; architects typically work with a wind engineering consultant and an outside facility to test a completed design. But as an interdisciplinary firm—where architects and engineers work closely together from the outset of each project—SOM already has significant wind engineering expertise in-house. Making the investment in our own wind tunnel has given our teams the ability to test wind performance from the earliest stages of conceptual design. “Having this facility allows our teams to perform wind testing when it otherwise would not have been possible,” says Brad Young, an SOM structural engineer based in Chicago. “We can even use it for our own research and for design competitions.”

Leasing an additional space within its Chicago studio, SOM assembled a team of architects, engineers, and interior designers to develop plans for the wind tunnel. The facility is 45 feet long and equipped with fans at one end and a baseplate at the other, where a scale model of the building design is placed during a simulation. Sensors embedded in the baseplate can produce rich data on the building’s resistance to simulated wind performance. This data allows the design team to draw direct correlations between architectural form and performance.

Slide 1 of 1, SOM Wind Tunnel
SOM Wind Tunnel © SOM

Applications in practice and theory

Since 2015, SOM’s wind tunnel has been used in the design of more than 40 projects, including built towers that have made a major impact on skylines around the world. With each project, SOM expands its pool of knowledge and seeks to carry these  insights forward. Today the engineering team is using the wind tunnel to conduct independent research. Continuing studies in form-finding—the process of determining the most efficient architectural form for a given project—SOM engineers have shared insights from their research insights widely within the industry.

In the design of supertall towers, traditional boundaries between architecture and engineering disappear; this is precisely where SOM excels as an interdisciplinary practice. Tools like the wind tunnel allow SOM to continually develop innovative systems for the next generation of supertall buildings, achieving new possibilities through collaboration and applied research.

Vortex Shedding
Visualization of vortex shedding as wind flows around two tall buildings of differing shape © SOM
Vents Section
Use of CFD to visualize the flow of wind through and around a tall building with a wind vent © SOM