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Extracts

Huge Wind Machine Simulates Hurricanes

It will huff, and puff, and blow the house in — but only for research purposes.

University of Florida wind engineers have 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 are using 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.

“This simulator also gives us the ability to test home retrofits and new building products aimed at preventing hurricane damage,’ said Forrest Masters, an assistant professor of civil and coastal engineering and the leader of the project.

The simulator, which cost about $500,000 in parts and labor, was designed and constructed entirely by Masters, lab manager Jimmy Jesteadt and a team of undergraduate students.

At full power, the fans turn at about 1,800 revolutions per minute, producing wind speeds of about 100 mph. A custom-built duct reduces the space available for the air to flow through, ratcheting up the wind speeds to a potential 130 mph. Steering vanes allow the engineers to direct the air wherever they want it to blow.

Implanted in the vanes, the water jets can simulate the most extreme rainfall of up to 35 inches per hour, although 8 inches per hour is more typical, Masters said.

Forrest Masters,