Following the devastating consequences brought about by last year's Hurricane Katrina, there has been renewed interest from academia and the insurance industry in minimizing the damage caused by these monster storms, and what better way to test structural integrity than by actually exposing buildings to hurricane-style conditions? Traditionally the only way to subject building materials to powerful gusts has been stuffing miniature replicas inside a wind tunnel, but the results of these tests don't accurately convey the real-world effects on life-size structures. Enter Florida International University professor Stephen Leatherman, who, with the help of his students, has constructed a so-called "Wall of Wind" capable of destroying a free-standing house in under 10 minutes. In its current iteration, the Wall uses two stacked eight-foot diameter fans hooked up to a pair of 500-horsepower engines to produce winds in excess of 115-mph, with plumbing that allows water to be fed into the system and whipped against the target. Amazingly, this hurricane machine is only the first of two others the researchers have planned: currently they're working on a six-fan version capable of 140-mph winds, and if they succeed in winning a $5.8 million "Center of Excellence" grant from the state, construction on a monster 18-fan rig will begin in a specially-built steel building next to the Homestead Air Reserve Base. How powerful would the 18-fan setup be? Supposedly it will be capable of producing sustained 160-mph winds, the same type of Category 5 conditions that ravaged New Orleans and even jeopardized the mighty Superdome.
[Via
FARK]
posted Oct 13th 2006 2:51PM
I work for a special effects company and I would like to get in contact with you about your wind machine.If you could e-mail with a phone number.
How do they keep the "Wall of Wind" from propeling itself away?
That's what I wondered as well. That thing must have some serious anchoring into the ground to prevent it from blowing itself away.
Now, who's gonna make a hovercraft out of this thing!
Why don't they just sacrifice 12 virgins to summon the God of Wind and Storms?
this story blows.....haha get it? blows...
I believe Engadget should give one of these away as part of the relaunch contest.
I believe Hurricane Katrina was Category 3 when it made landfall, but it had previously been Category 5 in the Gulf of Mexico.
Still very sad, of course, but I just wanted to clear that up.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/TCR-AL122005_Katrina.pdf
This is cool and all, but why not just use a Jet engine? They already make rigs with jet engines on towable trailer the movie studios use. They also have nice hydraulic controls to aim the jet engines as you need. And a jet engine can easily exceed wind speeds of 140mph.
Probably because they want a "Wall of Wind" to better simulate hurricane conditions.
How do they anchor it? Tent stakes.
"This is cool and all, but why not just use a Jet engine?"
Because a jet engine focuses its blast in a relatively narrow area, which is not indiciative of a hurricane. The Wall of Wind is just that; an unfocused, equal-pressure wall of wind (and apparently water). Plus the exhast from a jet engine has got to be in the hundreds of degrees, which would contaminate the experiment by causing effects on the structure(due to heat) that may not be easily distinguished from the actual wind.
Ya, the heat is major an issue up close. But not much of one at a nominal distance. Without a bunch of these "fans" side by side they too will be a narrow beam of wind. It'll be interesting to see a movie of a bunch of these things in use.
Jet engines dwon't work because the airstream gets heated... since Wall of Wind tries to replicate real hurricane conditions (not only wind speeds) but also nondimensional flow characteristics as the Reynolds, Mach and Freud numbers. That is why hot rod engines and propellers were chosen.
>Following the devastating consequences brought about by last year's Hurricane Katrina...
>Supposedly it will be capable of producing sustained 160-mph winds, the same type of Category 5 conditions that ravaged New Orleans and even jeopardized the mighty Superdome.
YIKES! Myths Galore on Engadget.
The problem with that statement is that the "devastating consequences" from Katrina where not wind. Katrina was downgraded to a Cat 1 by the time she hit New Orleans and had sustained winds of less than 100mph.
The "devastating consequences" where from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers building a floodwall that collapsed and flooded the city BEFORE the storm even arrived.
Goodle finds this good explainer
http://www.examiner.com/a-254236~Kevin_Aylward__Katrina__Forget_everything_you_thought_you_knew.html
Not to take away from the total destruction and loss created by the unfortunate effects of Katrina,. but wasn't most of the damage due to the flooding, which was caused by the levee collapsing? I don't remember seeing much 'hurricane' damage, (ie caused by wind damage) it seemed mostly the 10'+ flood waters after the levee broke.
Now hurricane Andrew was devastating (I was in the middle of it) or even Wilma and it's more appropriate to the story considering FIU is in Miami. Katrina just helped cause a flood.
Just dont walk in front of these things. Or even worse, behind one. *sluuuurp*
Intel call, they want that for there giga core processor!
haha.. small world. the company that produces the drive units in that machine is just down the road from my house. "Air Boat Drive Units" is the one company... then more recently the one brother broke off and started his own company "century propeller corp". Their dad started the company a long time ago and patented these drive units. Previously airboats were made w/ old rotax and vw airplane engines but b/c they were so hard to come by... these drive units were invented which allow you to use a chevy engine. The ones in the picture are counter rotaters - a three blade and a four blade prop spinning in opposite directions. Anyhow...back to this application, I was amazed at some of the calls they get to purchase their drive units - people all over the world. Several universities doing hurricane research. Also they've sold to several movie production companies I believe - b/c theres just nothing else in the market to produce that volume of wind.
oh the one company website is http://www.airboatdriveunits.com
"How do they keep the "Wall of Wind" from propeling itself away?"
The wheels are a particularly nice touch.
im going to steal this thing and strap it to my back. MEXICO, HERE I COME!
LOL at Dr. Chaos!
They need to make it swivel a few degrees or speed up and slow down quickly to simulate a hurricane. The rocking or twisting motion is what makes trees and houses give way.
id love to see this in the military, take these propellers in a coupple U.S. Air Force C5 Galaxy cargo planes, set it up near a city or something, maybe the range of the winds will have to be seen, cuz if its only good for 100 feet forget it, but if it could be powerfull enough to destroy a small city who knows, i just thought about it cuz im stupid peace.
"The problem with that statement is that the "devastating consequences" from Katrina where not wind. Katrina was downgraded to a Cat 1 by the time she hit New Orleans and had sustained winds of less than 100mph."
Maybe you should do your research before accusing others of slacking in theirs. Even if the winds were slightly under 100 mph, that's still a solid category 2 storm. Katrina hit with sustained winds of over 125 mph, which not a category 5 as Engadget reports, but a category 3 storm, still considered a major hurricane. There is no possible way that she went from a category 4 to a cat 1 in three hours prior to landfall and managed to keep such an excellent eyewall and symmetry well after landfall.
People, do your research. It's simple.
Heh, Americans: just start building proper buildings for your country's weather conditions... Your wooden/paper/plastic bungalows are just pathetic barns compared to our European homes.
I know, it's cool to build a new home from scratch every few years.