Recent Wind Engineering Developments in the Philippines: 2007-2009

by Benito M. Pacheco, William T. Tanzo, and Ronwaldo Emmanuel R. Aquino, 2009, Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Regional Harmonization of Wind Loading and Wind Environmental Specifications in Asia-Pacific Economies (APEC-WW-2009), Tamkang University, Y-Lan County, Taiwan; co-organized by the Global Center of Excellence Program on New Frontiers of Wind Engineering Research and Education, Tokyo Polytechnic University.

ABSTRACT: This country report describes recent developments in the field of wind engineering and disaster mitigation in the Philippines from global, national, and project perspectives. The first development is on the completion of a global risk assessment study which presents very important disaster risk exposure information on the Philippines and other, mostly Asia-Pacific countries. From a national perspective, three developments are discussed: on the update of the National Structural Code of the Philippines which embodies the governing wind loading codes in the country; on the development of visual assessment procedures for structures usually damaged by strong typhoons; and lastly, though there are no recent developments, on existing relevant local laws and regulations related to wind environmental specifications. The next development is on the completion of the St. Francis Shangri-La Place twin residential towers which use an innovative system to control both wind and seismic response. Lastly, the establishment of the Institute of Civil Engineering in the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, where there are planned two boundary layer wind tunnel laboratories planned, is briefly discussed.

KEYWORDS: Philippines, wind loading code, visual assessment, wind response control, wind environmental regulations, wind tunnel laboratories.

A direct link to this publication can be found [here] on the official APEC-WW website.