Every Skyscraper Has To Pass This Test

This is where the world's biggest skyscrapers are put to the test.

This video contains paid promotion for Brilliant.

Additional footage and images courtesy of Orbital Stack/RWDI, FIA, Mongrel Media, Mylo Kaye and QinetiQ.

Follow Get Construction Talking

Listen to The World's Best Construction Podcast by The B1M

#construction #architecture #skyscrapers

Ripping and/or editing this video is illegal and will result in legal action.

© 2024 The B1M Limited

[MrLense]

I'm in for Fred's Tom Scott arc, visiting interesting labs that test engineering things.

[grahamcollins]

Milton Keynes: "Somewhere a little less exotic" - perfect description!

[djpalmer]

As a Milton Keynes resident I never knew this place was on my doorstep, until now. Great video....and you can never have too many roundabouts 😉

[piraterubberduck]

When you put all these different shaped buildings together, you can get some hard to predict behaviour of the wind. This can include wind being directed up or down as well as creating high and low speed and pressure areas around buildings. Trying to predict this with computer simulations is challenging as there is just so much physics going on, so wind tunnel testing is essential. Very interesting stuff.

[hateclub]

A good example of unintended wind effects is the Bridgwater Place building in Leeds, which caused wind to funnel past one specific section of road and ultimately one person died when a lorry blew over. Now they have wind deflectors in place by the road.

[GamingGrenade]

"This place will seriously blow you away"

I see what you did there

[davidkoenig]

I love architectural models as much as the real buildings themselves, so this brief look into how they react to wind was excellent. Thank you Fred and B1M!

[srdjanavram]

Nice look under the hood of one of RWDI's facilities. Thanks B1M team.

[pacldawson]

What a fascinating facility, providing a much-needed service.

[ivansanchez]

"So by now, you may be thinking that a carrer in wind engineering sounds pretty uplifting" 😂

[morganspencer-churchill]

I would watch an hour long video of Fred attempting to eat different breads and pastries in a wind tunnel.

[MaxPospelkov]

"Rave test" sounds awesome!!!
I'd like to be a rave test specialist)))

[daveymaggee]

This was fascinating. They really think of everything. Thanks Fred.

[stevenlee]

Really enjoy watching your passion for engineering and building and human ingenuity!

[jamiemc]

The amount of wind puns you made there in that brilliant segment actually made me laugh 😂 🌬️

[Aeiroq]

Fred’ videos are of unparalleled quality

[LSmallCatL]

I'd be surprised if anyone in the construction industry wouldn't be familiar with RWDI. There aren't many options for wind tunnel testing around the world considering the required facility and associated costs. Smaller projects often go to Computational Fluid Dynamic software tools which are much cheaper and faster however lack the applied testing which you get from a wind tunnel test.
Every project however has to consider wind loads in their structural calculation.
One caveat however is to be considered. Different regions/ countries have different standards/ requirements which usually is based on the worst condition experienced since windspeeds were measured. Therefore, higher wind loads due to climate changes will fall into the applied safety factors which have to be rather higher than lower to avoid a sudden collapse of any structural if unprecedented conditions apply.

[yousorooo]

The amount of puns in the video really blew me away.

[dcallan]

I was blown away. 🤣🤣👍👍Gustave Eiffel built his own wind tunnel under the Eiffel tower

[rollinwithunclepete]

Thanks, Fred. A very interesting insider's view of a very cool subject! Glad you survived the Wind Tunnel