Concern towards the quality of public urban areas has increased in recent years. Wind comfort and safety in pedestrian areas has become one important environmental parameter when designing new cities. Hence, architects and town planners need guidelines and simplified design tools to take account of the wind in their projects. The objectives of this study provide more insight in the pedestrian living conditions around the Hub, a newly built structure, part of Coventry University campus and at the same time study the influence of building shapes on the wind distribution. The latter is based on a series of computational fluid dynamics simulations (CFD), used to advise the University's Estates Department of the possibility of wind nuisance around the central campus area. The velocity field was computed using the finite volume method. The simulations were performed for different wind speeds and directions. The predicted results showed that the distribution of the velocity field varied and had different characteristics with different wind directions. Also, it was established that the wind speed amplification factors in diverging passages were generally larger than those in converging passages. The case study incorporated is intended to support and guide future studies of wind comfort and safety with CFD and thus makes a modest contribution in improving wind environmental quality in urban areas.

A new material suitable for the structural repair of concrete pavements has been developed at Coventry University exhibiting high flexural, shear and bond strengths and high resistance to reflection cracking, demonstrating also unique 'placeability' and 'compactability' properties. This article deals with the standard equivalent flexural strengths evaluated using the identical fibre bridging concept and the size effect. Correlation of flexural strengths for beams of different sizes was achieved and the efficiency of fibre in the mix was scrutinised. It was concluded that the efficiency was much higher in the new steel-fibre reinforced, roller compacted, polymer modified concrete (SFR-RC-PMC) mix than in conventional concrete. The high efficiency revealed by the fibre bridging law is mainly attributed to a lower water to cement ratio. It was also found that the fibre aspect ratio influences significantly the flexural performance of the new material. The very high flexural strength extracted from the SFR-RC-PMC, compared to conventional steel-fibre reinforced concrete is very favourable to worn concrete pavement rehabilitation. Figure 3? Dear EditorThe reason for the sharp drop of flexural strength of mix PAVPMC1.5%-35 shown in Fig.3 is due to the fact that it exhibited lower flexural toughness than the other mixes. The mix contained 1.5% 35mm-length steel fibre by volume. The flexural performance of the same mix under 3PB shown in Fig.4 also exhibited the same tendency.The article has been amended accordingly (p:5, below Figure 3) 2In Table 8, how can we use the fibre bridging law in site applications?The fibre bridging law can serve as an index to evaluate the fibre efficiency for the selection of ingredients during the mix design process in practical (site) applications.For example, mixes SBRPMC1.5%-35 and SBRPMC1.5%-50, in Table 8, are the same (have identical proportions of ingredients), only the former incorporates shorter fibres than the latter. It is apparent from Figure 6 (b) that SBRPMC1.5%-50 is more efficient than SBRPMC1.5%-35 because the fibres of mix -50 provide higher tensile strength than those of -35, for the same crack opening displacement. In this case, the fibre bridging law specified in Table 8, can be used to predict the flexural performance of beams made of the three different mixes.This has been mentioned in the article (p:15, just above the Concluding Remarks) HIGHLIGHTS: Standard equivalent flexural strengths are established for overlay pavement design  SBRPMC1.5%-35 mix is optimal for flexural and bond strengths and workability  Lower w/c is the main reason for superior performance of fibre in the SFR-RC-PMC  The fibre bridging law can be an index of fibre efficiency in a mix design  The fibre bridging law can be used to predict the flexural performance of beams

Loading-unloading tests were carried out on uncracked (as delivered from the factory) and cracked (after the first loading-unloading cycle was completed) grandstand terrace units. The variation of parameters, such as displacements and strains, with the applied load was recorded and presented in a graphical form. The reduction in stiffness of the units owing to cracks was estimated from these graphs. The predominant mode of failure was found to be cracking initiated at the soffit of the units (tension zone) and mainly around the symmetry line (where maximum bending stresses congregate). These cracks propagated gradually towards the top. The measured and predicted strain distribution across the depth of the vertical part of the terrace unit (riser) was found to be predominantly linear, displaying tension at the bottom and compression at the top. A large portion of the horizontal part of the unit (tread) followed closely the behaviour of the riser, however, to reveal tension rather than compression at the top. This could have some implications for the design of the units. It was concluded that present methods and procedures of evaluating and designing precast concrete terrace units are not integral. Further tests are required, coupled with more analytical work. A Part II companion paper reports on the development of a numeric algorithm describing the analysis process. NOTATION F load k stiffness ä displacement

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