Like a hurricane

University of Florida

wind engineers have unveiled the world’s largest portable hurricane wind and rain simulator. Mounted on a trailer, the simulator is composed of eight 5’ 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 130mph, Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, and high-pressure water jets that mimic wind-driven torrential rain.

The goal is to learn more about exactly how hurricanes damage homes, and how to modify them to best prevent that damage.

‘We want to conduct experiments to evaluate real homes in communities that are impacted by hurricanes,’ said Forrest Masters, an assistant professor of civil and coastal engineering and the leader of the project. ‘This simulator also gives us the ability to test home retrofits and new building products aimed at preventing hurricane damage.’