It will huff, and puff, and blow the house in – but only for research purposes. Two days before the June 1 start of the 2007 hurricane season, University of Florida wind engineers unveiled the world’s largest portable hurricane wind and rain simulator. Mounted on a trailer, the industrial-sized behemoth is composed of eight 5-foot-tall industrial fans powered by four marine diesel engines that together produce 2,800 horsepower. To cool the engines, the system taps water from a 5,000-gallon tank aboard a truck that doubles as the simulator’s tow vehicle.
UF civil and coastal engineers plan to use the simulator to blast vacant homes with winds of up to 130 mph – Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale – and high-pressure water jets that mimic wind-driven torrential rain.
The goal: to learn more about exactly how hurricanes damage homes, and how to modify them to best prevent that damage.
Go Gators! More here.
Found by Bubba Martin
Texas Tech does a solid job at tornado research – including developing designs for homes and shelters to survive such disasters.
That guy’s job really blows.
I already know how hurricanes damage homes ITS THE 150 MPH+ WIND DAMMIT. In the caribbean we know how to build to minimize damage. Low profile roofs, ventilate for breathing, tie your roof into the structural walls with hurricane clips. Just send some of your professors down there and observe.
it looks like someone took some standard 80cm case fans
and poured miracle grow on’em… -wonder if we’ll see one attached to a huge case soon… *shrug*
Who wants to bet that the military will use (or have used) this as a weapon. To hit an area/enemy with a controlled, man-made hurricane would be nutty.
Tim
#5 – Tim R – Wasn’t that Plot 243 in the CIA’s campaign to assassinate Fidel Castro? As I recall, it failed when Castro made a 7-hour speech back at them, winning the wind generator contest hands down.
I need a new roof, park that baby right out front !! 🙂
#1, moss, thanks for the link. That’s a great program.