Tech Researchers Receive Funding for Sign-Related Wind Testing

Texas Tech's Wind Science and Engineering Research Center has been awarded an initial grant of $60,000 by the International Sign Association to test the wind load capacity of on-premise signage. ISA's Bill Dundas says the research is being carried out because the increase in the wind load requirement mandated by the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) 2006 sign code has made signs more expensive. If the research results are favorable, ISA will share them with ASCE in the hope of getting the code amended, says Dundas. Texas Tech professor Doug Smith says the College of Engineering will execute full-scale and wind-tunnel testing on signs to determine their wind loads, which will take about a year, while the research will be used to confirm or modify the sign codes by establishing wind loads. The full-scale testing entails the use of a 200-meter tower measuring wind loads on a sign and a strain gauge instrument affixed to the sign for measuring vibrations. The rest of the testing will occur in a wind tunnel. Smith says the university possesses the only full-scale test site needed for this type of research. (Web Link)

"Tech Researchers Receive Funding for Sign-Related Wind Testing"
Daily Toreador (08/25/08) Vanderlaan, Jon