PREFACE TO THE WIND ENGINEERING SERIES

The design engineer who is concerned with structures and equipment faces an ever-increasing demand for products with a performance which must be substantiated under stringent conditions of cost and environment. The customers for his products are becoming better educated in the ways of achieving, and what can be achieved by, competitive design. Assuming the basic skill of the designer, no other single factor can contribute more to the economic preparation of a satisfactory, competitive design than the data upon which that design is based and the speed with which those data can be found and applied.

The data concerning wind engineering, in common with those relating to many other phenomena of concern to the engineer in industry, are widely scattered and when located are of variable quality and relevance to industrial application. The engineering designer does not, generally speaking, have the facilities required to collect and evaluate all the data available that may be applicable to each aspect of his work. Even if he had the desire to undertake such a task, it is unlikely that he could allow the time necessary to prepare his own data 'working tool' at the expense of time spent in the application of his unique personal skills, knowledge and experience to the particular job in hand. In any case, the customer will increasingly wish to view the design, not against some locally-derived data, but against data that can be demonstrated to be the best that can be ascertained at any given time and which are vouched for by a significant cross section of the engineering and scientific community concerned with both the derivation and application of data in that particular field. It is ESDU's purpose to provide data of this nature relating to Wind Engineering as in many other fields. ESDU has prepared this information for both the designer and his customer and, by serving the needs of many, accomplishes the task at much lower cost than could apply to the individual performing it on his own behalf.

A qualified staff, with the assistance of many individuals and establishments throughout the world in research, industry and teaching, collects and evaluates the existing data. The staff discard that which is irrelevant or unreliable, correlating and distilling what remains into an authoritative working tool for engineering application. Throughout, their work is guided and monitored by an expert group and ad hoc working parties.