Overview

The original application of Wind Engineering (although it was not called that at the time) to building design was the supply of wind loading data. In the UK the 1952 wind loading code presented an early set of data which were only lightly based upon scientific measurements. These data were found to be wanting, and, in the UK, a new and more scientifically based code was produced, and amended over many years until, under pressure from the enquiry of the Ronan Point disaster, the 1970 edition was published, republished in 1972. These editions are usually referred to as CP3. In them particular effort was expended to get the data on the wind in a more scientific form, and the pressure and force coefficients were, in the 1970 edition, much as in the earlier version, but were improved by amendments over the years as new data became available. As a result of a vast expansion of data, both on wind speeds and loading coefficients, BS 6399 was produced in 1997, and remains the basis for loading calculations in the UK. Around the world national codes were written (an interesting compilation of most was published by the Committee of Wind Loading, Society of Steel Constructors of Japan in 1975 under the heading "Wind Resistant Design Regulations: A World List"). Meanwhile European codes were being written based on the various national codes; this operation is still in progress.