Hazard of extreme wind gusts to buildings in Australia and its sensitivity to climate change

This paper presents a preliminary study on hazard modeling, estimation, and mapping of extreme wind gusts for consideration of buildings and infrastructure in Australia. Buildings and infrastructure provide essential support for the quality of life and are the founding blocks for social and economic development. Typically the design service life of buildings is around 50 years and that of infrastructure is 100 years or beyond; therefore, most existing building stock and infrastructure will be impacted by climate change, and the design and construction of new buildings will need to consider climate change\u27s potential effects. This paper was presented at The 18th World IMACS Congress and MODSIM09 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. Cairns, Australia from 13–17 July 2009, by Chi-hsiang Wang and X. Wang of CSIRO\u27s - Division of Sustainable Ecosystem