FIU competition aims to inspire the next generation of engineers

POSTED ON Mar 17, 2023

On March 31, 2022, the Florida International University (FIU) Hurricane Research Center hosted the annual Wall of Wind Mitigation Challenge competition. According to the center, students from South Florida high schools watched live Zoom streams to see how well their models would stand up to FIU’s 12-fan Wall of Wind research facility, which blows at speeds up to 157 miles per hour.

The objective of the Wall of Wind Mitigation Challenge, which took place in March 2022, was for students to reduce the wind-induced force on a building’s foundation by optimizing its shape.

In a recent announcement, FIU said the 2023 Wall of Wind (WOW) Mitigation Challenge aims to reduce the wind-induced uplift force on a building’s roof by optimizing its overall shape.

Solutions will demonstrate a sound comprehension of aerodynamic principles. Teams are tasked with developing a roofing solution that will improve the aerodynamic performance of the roof, to reduce the roof-to-wall forces and moments on a scaled-down model of the roof concept. Click here for more information.

The Wall of Wind Experimental Facility is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a national facility where wind engineering projects and private industry designs can be tested under hurricane conditions, up to and including Category 5 (157 mph) wind speeds.

In 2021, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said the program aimed at combating storms. The Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program was created in 1992. Currently, the HLMP supports activities that include promoting public education and public information, conducting hurricane research, and demonstrating, testing, and raising awareness of new techniques to enhance manufactured homes’ wind resistance.

In a 2007 study published by Stephen Leatherman, Arindam Chowdhury, and Carolyn Roberston, the authors said the research and testing of coastal hoses and hurricane damage mitigation would foster the development of novel mitigation techniques to improve the built environment’s resilience to hurricane impact.

“The International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC) at the Florida International University (FIU) has developed a new research approach to better understand categories 1 to 5 hurricane-induced effects on residential buildings and other structures through full-scale, destructive testing, much the same way that the automobile industry tackled the crashworthiness issue or the earthquake community approached building safety,” they wrote.

On its website, the International Hurricane Research Center at FLU says the annual competition serves as an inspiration for high school students interested in pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers, especially those looking to work in wind engineering and hurricane mitigation and be the next generation of engineers to address natural hazards and extreme weather.