The Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory (BLWTL) was founded in 1965 at Western University in London, Ontario by Dr. Alan G. Davenport. The lab is widely recognized as the birthplace of modern wind engineering.
In the 1960s, Dr. Davenport studied the effects of wind on tall structures and bridges. He recognized that traditional wind tunnels, designed for aeronautical engineering, couldn’t accurately simulate the turbulent, variable wind of Earth’s lower atmosphere (the “boundary layer”). To address this, he designed and built a new type of wind tunnel specifically for civil engineering structures. The first tunnel, BLWT I, opened on November 25, 1965, becoming the first of its kind designed to test civil engineering structures in a realistic wind environment. In 1984, the laboratory expanded with the addition of a second wind tunnel, BLWT II, which was a closed-circuit tunnel with higher wind speeds and advanced features.
The BLWTL quickly gained international recognition for its groundbreaking work. The lab pioneered new techniques for simulating wind loads and analyzing structural responses, which made buildings and bridges safer and more economical to build. Over its history, the BLWTL has conducted thousands of studies on iconic structures around the world, including:
- – CN Tower in Toronto, Canada
- – Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in Chicago, USA
- – Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE
- – Confederation Bridge in Prince Edward Island, Canada
- – Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong
- – 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey
Research at the BLWTL on wind loads, probabilistic methods for wind climate, and dynamic responses of structures continues to contribute to the design of the tallest and longest structures in the world, and influence design standards globally. In recognition of its significance, the BLWTL has been designated as a Historic Civil Engineering Landamark by the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and the American Society of Civil Engineers.
