With Wind Wizard; Siobhan Roberts brings us the story of Alan Davenport (1932-2009); the father of modern wind engineering; who investigated how wind navigates the obstacle course of the earths natural and built environments--and how; when not properly heeded; wind causes buildings and bridges to teeter unduly; sway with abandon; and even collapse. In 1964; Davenport received a confidential telephone call from two engineers requesting tests on a pair of towers that promised to be the tallest in the world. His resulting wind studies on New Yorks World Trade Center advanced the art and science of wind engineering with one pioneering innovation after another. Establishing the first dedicated "boundary layer" wind tunnel laboratory for civil engineering structures; Davenport enabled the study of the atmospheric region from the earths surface to three thousand feet; where the air churns with turbulent eddies; the average wind speed increasing with height. The boundary layer wind tunnel mimics these windy marbled striations in order to test models of buildings and bridges that inevitably face the wind when built. Over the years; Davenports revolutionary lab investigated and improved the wind-worthiness of the worlds greatest structures; including the Sears Tower; the John Hancock Tower; Shanghais World Financial Center; the CN Tower; the iconic Golden Gate Bridge; the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge; the Sunshine Skyway; and the proposed crossing for the Strait of Messina; linking Sicily with mainland Italy. Chronicling Davenports innovations by analyzing select projects; this popular-science book gives an illuminating behind-the-scenes view into the practice of wind engineering; and insight into Davenports steadfast belief that there is neither a structure too tall nor too long; as long as it is supported by sound wind science.Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.
#4001879 in eBooks 2010-09-17 2012-08-03File Name: B009R6H8JE
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Helpful but not worth $100 plusBy Richard W. Hoover Sr.If this book is anything like the authors companion work on Renaissance Art (which it is). it is 600-some pages of introduction and chronology. with articles on personalities. locations. iconography and specific works. While it is both useful and portable (check out the minuscule dimensions of this tome). it is no $100-plus production. whether in terms of illustrations (drab) or of content. The companion volume on the Renaissance cost me. from an seller. eleven bucks in "like new" condition. I am sure this one on Baroque Art will soon be similarly priced. At 25 or 30 dollars. assuming (which I do) that the quality of both books is the same. I would have given an extra star to the book on the Baroque.
