Flow Field Modulator Enhancing Wind Engineering Research

NHERI’s University of Florida wind hazards facility is one of the world’s largest and most diverse suites of experimental infrastructure. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the UF’s boundary layer wind tunnel is located within the Powell Family Structures and Materials Laboratory. In June and July 2021, the DesignSafe Radio podcast features interviews with NHERI at UF facility director and principal investigator Jennifer Bridge, who details the capabilities UF wind tunnel and the research it makes possible. Professor Jennifer Bridge describes the flow field modulator, a new piece of equipment at the facility that greatly enhances the capabilities of the BLWT. The FFM is a bank of 319 very fast, individually controlled fans that can simulate transient events like wind gusts, downbursts, and thunderstorm winds. It can also replay wind events (called time histories) with data collected in the field, for example by the UF’s “storm chaser” team and its mobile weather towers. The facility is unique in its scale. Bridge explains how the FFM opens up wind engineering research to many new questions, with many new possibilities for discovering how different wind profiles affect structures. Click here for a view of the flow field modulator (FFM). “What’s unique about our facility is the scale, these 319 fans, but it’s really the degrees of freedom that we have. There are just endless possibilities with what we can do, because of the number of fans, because of their flexibility and responsiveness. There’s just alot that we can do in this facility now that we weren’t able to do before.” -Jennifer Bridge Related links: NHERI’s University of Florida experimental facility Video overview of the wind tunnel facility located within the University of Florida’s Powell Family Structures and Materials Laboratory. Work at UF helps engineers design structures that enable Floridians to survive extreme wind events. Video interview with UF professor Forrest Masters. Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook and Twitter. DesignSafe Radio highlights ways that NSF-supported research renders infrastructure and communities more resilient to natural hazards like earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and storm surge. The podcast is produced by NHERI, the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, NSF award CMMI 1612144. Any statements in this material are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.