Alan Davenport who is widely considered as the pioneer in wind design for tall buildings recently passed away. He was 76. He and his company RWDI in Ontario (Canada) have long dominated the field of wind tunnel testing and analysis for tall buildings and bridges, such as those for the New York Twin Towers and Sears Tower in Chicago.
Given the complex and dynamic nature of wind behaviors, if I am not mistaken, there are only two companies in North America who have the capability to perform detailed wind analysis and testing: Davenport's firm RWDI and CPP in Colorado.
One interesting side note about Davenport: he was commisioned by Sports Illustrated in 2002 to study the famous and unpredictable wind at the Augusta Golf Course area called "Amen Corner". He concluded what golfers already knew: change in golf course elevation in all directions (not to mention tree obstructions) causes havocs in wind movement.
The rest of the article can be read at this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/science/26davenport.html?src=linkedin.
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