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Bull Ring Wind Wands
Location
Birmingham
Year
2002
Architect
Art 2 Architecture
Three illuminated masts are set to sway in light winds but not to become unstable in gale force conditions. Aerodynamically profiled leaves of polished stainless steel rotate on the glass fibre stems and reflect integral feature lighting.
The revolving plates have a single crease to impart stiffness. They are balanced on thin slewing bearings glued to the wands. Each mast is laid up in glass fibre reinforced epoxy resin as a single piece and the base fixing is carefully detailed to avoid fatigue effects.
Material specification was carefully controlled to give the right degree of stiffness and strength. Detailed checks were made to ensure that no unwanted aerodynamic effects: vortex shedding, galloping and interaction phenomena, would occur.
