Wind

W
R
Rose Diagrams
Wind rose diagram
ms help you visu
ualize wiind patte
erns at a site. Use them
m to
bettter inforrm your design decisions
d
s, but be aware of
o unique
e microclimates and
a
site
e conside
erations that win
nd rose diagrams
d
will not capture.
In Revit yo
ou
can produ
uce
Monthly
Wind Rosee
charts to
observe ho
ow
wind patteerns
change
throughou
ut
the year.
(But make sure th
his
data is valid for your
y
site. Wind can va
ary a
lot by site and th
he
provided weatherr data
may not be accurate
for you)

A "w
wind rose" diagram is the mostt common way of dissplaying wind data, and can be measured in a
spe
eed distrib
bution or a frequen
ncy distribu
ution". Win
nd roses can
c be a ye
early avera
age, or can
n be
mad
de for speccific season
ns; some even include air temperature infformation.
The
e explanatio
on below, from Revitt Help, will explain ho
ow to read wind rose charts.

Win
nd Rose (S
Speed Disttribution)
This ch
hart shows the fre
equency and speed of wind blowing
g from
each direction.
d
As you
u move outward on
n the radial scale, the frequency asso
ociated
with wind
w
coming from that direction incrreases. Each spoke is
divideed by color into win
nd speed ranges. The
T radial length of
o each
spoke around the circle is the percentage of
o time that the wind
blows from that directio
on.
In thiss sample Speed Disstribution wind rosse (an annual wind
d rose
from Boston,
B
Massachussetts), winds from the
t NW and SSW
directiions are most com
mmon (more than 10%
1
of annual hou
urs). Of
the wiinds from the SSW
W direction, wind sp
peeds are most ofteen in the
6-9 an
nd 9-11 knot rangee (yellow and lightt blue).

Win
nd Rose (F
Frequency Distributiion)

This wind
w
rose shows thee same data as thee Speed Distributio
on wind
rose, except
e
the radial sccale now representts wind speed rath
her than
percen
nt of time. Also, the colored segmentts of each spoke reepresent
hours rather than wind sspeed.

Win
nd Data
While weathe
er data from
m software
e tools can
n provide a basic un
nderstandin
ng of wind
d patterns, the
besst way to get accurate
e data is to
o perform real
r
measu
urements at the site ittself.
Clim
mate data, including wind pattterns, mosstly comes from airp
ports. It is often the case that the
wind patternss measured
d at the airport are very differrent than the
t wind patterns
p
of nearby sites.
s
How
wever, by understanding basicc conceptss of air mo
ovements, you can adjust
a
the wind data
a to
bettter suit the
e site locattion and siimulate mo
ore accura
ate scenario
os. When wind
w
data is collected at
airp
ports, it is ttypically measured
m
att 10 m (30 ft) above ground. Consider this and you
ur terrain when
w
dessigning with winds at a pedestriian level.
For more information on
n the clima
ate data that Autodessk provides, see Gree
en Building
g Studio He
elp.