Articles
Tornado Alley
I live in Oklahoma and during the Spring and Fall seasons we tend to have a lot of tornadoes, and that’s why this part of the country is part of the region dubbed “Tornado Alley.” Since our company sells the MecaWind software, we sometimes get asked whether MecaWind calculates wind loads for tornadoes. Does ASCE 7 Address Tornadoes? The…
I Feel the Need, the Need for Speed
In my humble opinion, the Movie Top Gun is one of the best movies of all time. One of the best parts is when Tom Cruise says “I feel the need, the need for speed”. It’s not just a great line, it also applies to many stack designs. More speed (critical wind speed) is exactly…
Shining light on Windows and Doors
Calculating pressures on windows and doors is one of the most common operations performed in MecaWind, and so we thought we would make a brief video to explain the way to calculate Components and Cladding (C&C). We also show some tips for new features in C&C. Calculate pressures on Doors & Windows MecaWind can be used to…
Welcome to our Damping Pad
When a vortex shedding problem exists on a stack, sometimes the most economical option is a damping pad. What is a damping pad? A damping pad is a preformed laminated fabric pad of a manufactured material composed of layers of tightly twisted, closely woven lightweight material. Each layer is made up of an elastomeric compound…
Florida Building Code 2017 Wind Loads
Update: The Florida Building Code 2020 was adopted in 2021 We have added the Florida Building Code 2017 Wind Loads to our software, MecaWind (Pro feature), and this gave us an opportunity to get familar with the Florida Building Code 2017. We wanted to take a moment to explain some of the things we learned about Florida Building…
How to Determine Damping
We can all grasp the physical attributes of a stack such as the height, weight, diameters, etc.; however, what is the stack’s structural damping? Does MecaStack estimate the damping of the stack? Is there any harm in just arbitrarily changing the damping value? Damping Basics: To answer this question we first need to cover some basics. If…
Getting High on Wind
I am an amateur cyclist, and I typically ride my bike on trails in my home of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma at an elevation of 700 ft [213 m]. One year I took my bike on a vacation to Breckenridge, Colorado at an elevation of 9,000 ft [2743 m]. The first thing I noticed when riding…
MecaWind is like Driving a Car
The new MecaWind release provides a new way to select the method used for the Main Wind Force Resisting System (MWFRS) and the Components and Cladding (C&C). The results can be different based upon the MWFRS method and C&C method selected. The question now is which one should you use on your design? Which MWFRS…