WOW Wind Maker To Mimic Hurricanes In Lab

Weather scientists are linking up giant industrial fans powered by a monster race car engine as their latest tool to study hurricane destruction, a reinsurer's consulting affiliate and university researchers said.

The Florida International University's International Hurricane Research Center in Miami and WeatherPredict Consulting Inc., a Raleigh, N.C.-based affiliate of Bermuda's RenaissanceRe Holdings, Ltd., made the announcement Friday.

The two groups said they will jointly develop “The RenaissanceRe Wall of Wind,” an array of six industrial fans that will replicate Category 4 hurricane conditions with 130-to-140 mph winds and rain in a laboratory environment.

Referring to the model with the acronym WOW, the simulated hurricane-type environment will allow scientists to precisely study the impact of severe storms on physical structures and building materials and methods, the groups said.

In a statement, Craig W. Tillman, president of WeatherPredict Consulting, said: “A critical component of minimizing both loss of life and property damage in a hurricane is to better understand the impact of these storms on our buildings.

“While substantial resources have been devoted to analyzing hurricanes and improving weather prediction, little scientific research has been done on the ways in which hurricanes affect the building materials that protect us,” he said.

Powered by a 502 horsepower race car engine, the RenaissanceRe Wall of Wind consists of six rotating propellers inside 7-foot round aluminum ducts.

Wall-mounted and free-standing wind-driven rain gauges will measure vertical and horizontal rainfall intensities, the weather modelers said, adding that the resulting wind-rain field will travel 10-to-15 feet from the fans to a full-sized single-story house, for example.

Instrumentation and high-speed cameras will monitor the subject's degradation, the weather modelers said.

The testing facility is slated to be completed in late summer. It will be built on the Florida International University campus.

Mr. Tillman said the scientific data collected from the experiments will help storm-exposed areas like Florida identify superior construction designs and materials, “thus mitigating insured losses and building more resilient communities.”

Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, director of the International Hurricane Research Center, reported that some promising initial research has already been conducted based on a two-fan array that was funded by the Florida Division of Emergency Management with support from RenaissanceRe and WeatherPredict.

The International Hurricane Research Center is an interdisciplinary research center focused on the mitigation of hurricane damage to people, the economy and the environment. It was established by the state legislature in 1995.

WeatherPredict, an affiliate of RenaissanceRe Holdings, provides weather forecasts to companies in the energy, financial and agribusiness sectors.