Skyscrapers v. Wind

Last week in Manhattan the American Society of Civil Engineers met to ponder the problem of bracing skyscrapers against the winds of heaven. Professor Clarence Richard Young, structural engineer at the University of Toronto, read the report of the Society's subcommittee No. 31, "On Wind Bracing in Steel Buildings." To be safe, said Professor Young, a builder must brace his skyscraper for a wind pressure of 20 Ib. per sq. ft. for the first 500 ft. of height. Then he must allow for an increase of 2 Ib. per sq. ft. in each additional 100 ft. of height. The highest wind velocity Mr. Young and his subcommittee found was at the top of Mt. Washington, N. H. where the wind blew 186 m.p.h. A skyscraper built atop Mt. Washington would have to withstand a pressure of 102 Ib. per sq. ft. Homer Gage Balcom, Manhattan consulting engineer, told assembled engineers that Professor Clyde Tucker Morris of Ohio State University is conducting experiments in wind pressure on Manhattan's Empire State Building, world's tallest. Total wind pressure on the 1,250-ft. Empire State Building is more than 4,000,000 Ib. Seven per cent of this total represents pressure on the 200-ft. mooring mast and estimated pull from a moored dirigible.

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