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windDESIGN - DAD Software for Rigid, Gable-Roofed Buildings

Introduction
windDESIGN - MATLAB-based Database-Assisted Design (DAD) for rigid, gable-roofed buildings This is the download page for windDESIGN, a Matlab-based Database-Assisted Design (DAD) software package for rigid, gable-roofed buildings.

The software is based on an upgraded version of Database-Assisted Design that streamlines the wind engineering/structural engineering components of the design process by allowing the direct computation of Demand-to-Capacity Indexes (DCIs, i.e., the left-hand side of the design interaction equation). The computation achieves the rigorous combination of imperfectly correlated time series of wind forces and effects thus eliminating errors due to subjective estimates of combined effects. The focus is on simple buildings with gable roofs, portal frames, and bracing parallel to the ridge. Useful features of this work include: the capability to use the two largest building aerodynamics databases available worldwide; the use of large simulated extreme wind databases for hurricane- and non-hurricane-prone regions; a novel interpolation scheme allowing the design of buildings with dimensions not covered in the databases; an effective multiple-points-in-time algorithm for estimating peaks; and parameter-free methods for estimating DCIs with specified mean recurrence intervals.

Pressure Databases The software reads pressure databases in specified formats (e.g., HDF). Sample pressure databases are available for download below. The software incorporates an interpolation scheme to accommodate cases in which the dimensions of the building of interest do not match the dimensions of an available wind tunnel model.
Directional Extreme Wind Speed Data The windDESIGN software also allows directional extreme wind speed data to be used in conjunction with the measured pressures to compute peak responses corresponding to specified Mean Recurrence Intervals.
Downloading Software and Sample Datasets
Create a Folder for All Files It is recommended that users create a single folder named 'windDESIGN' on their local hard drive in which to save all downloaded files and folders.
Requires Version 7 of MATLAB Software The windDESIGN software was developed and tested in the Microsoft Windows environment using version 8 of MATLAB. It has also been successfully tested with version 7 of MATLAB.

If you do not have version 7 or version 8 of MATLAB and you are running in the Windows XP/VISTA/7/8 environment, you can download and run the "stand-alone" file below. This contains a "compiled" version of the software.

Stand-alone Executable File You can download and run the "stand-alone" file below. This contains a compiled version of the software with executable file. This requires installation of Matlab Runtime (MCR) from Mathworks, Inc.
Source Codes The source codes for the windDESIGN (Matlab m-files) are supplied individually on demand by e-mail. Please find contact information below.
File Formats To avoid individually downloading a large number of files, we have provided the files in archive format (i.e., only a single file has to be downloaded). Given that users may be running on different platforms and that some users may have firewalls that block the downloading of certain types of files, we have provided several alternatives for downloading.

Specifically, the following options are available:

  • The file may be provided as a self-extracting zip file. The advantages of this format are that the files are compressed (which speeds downloading) and that no software is required to unpack the files. The disadvantages of this format are that they only work for Windows platforms and some firewalls disallow the downloading of files with a "EXE" file extension.

  • The files are provided as non-self-extracting zip files. The advantage of this format is that it can be unpacked on Unix/Linux platforms (use the "unzip" command) and it can possibly be downloaded on Windows sites that disallow "EXE" files. The disadvantage is that Windows users will need software (typically the WinZip software, but it is possible that other archiving software can also handle this format) to unpack the files.

  • If for some reason you are unable to either download or unpack the zip files, we provide links to the individual files. The advantages of this approach are that it should work in cases where the other formats are not feasible and that it allows you to selectively download files (e.g., you may want to only download a small subset of the sample data or pressure files). The disadvantage is that it can be tedious and slow to download all the files individually.

Files Available for Download You can download the following files for the windDESIGN software.
Contact Information This software was developed by Filmon Habte of the Florida International University. Please email questions or comments to
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Date created: 11/23/2015
Last updated: 04/26/2023
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