Explore every episode of DesignSafe Radio
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Jun 2018 | Episode 42 Hurricane Season 2018- Let's Get Prepped with Tom Iovino | 00:32:43 | |
Hurricane season 2018: Let’s get prepped
This week, we get prepped for the 2018 hurricane season with emergency management specialist Tom Iovino from the Florida Department of Health in Manatee County. Host Dan Zehner talks with Iovino about some less than obvious dangers related to hurricanes, and Iovino proffers excellent great advice for anyone near hurricane-prone areas, from Texas to Maine.
Iovino says that the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, and the Colorado State University hurricane researchers predict a slightly more intense hurricane season for 2018.
The good news, Iovino says, is that a hurricane gives you warning. So people in the affected areas have time to prepare and act.
He describes the personalities of last year’s hurricanes: Big, slow-moving Harvey in Houston that dropped three feet of rain up to 100 miles inland. Irma, which was supposed to wallop South Florida as a Cat 5 but took a last-minute turn, helping the Tampa Bay area dodge devastation. And Maria, which destroyed most of Puerto Rico’s infrastructure.
Iovino recommends we guard against “hurricane amnesia.” It’s not just coastal areas; even inland cities, like Atlanta, can be affected by tornadoes and heavy rains.
Primary problems, post hurricane, are lack of cellular and electrical service. Iovino reminds us of the senior care center in Florida that didn’t have a generator – causing patients to die.
Shadow evacuation is when people in non-evacuation zones evacuate anyway – causing tremendous traffic delays. Iovino says we need to educate people that for non-evacuation zones, designated local shelters are safe. You don’t need to drive far to be safe.
Special needs? If you or a family member has special medical needs, talk with your physician or local health department to get on a local “special needs” list. Don’t wait until the hurricane is bearing down on you. Get on a local list immediately so you can have a plan.
Iovino has a list of excellent tips for everyone in hurricane-prone areas.
Remember that “stuff is stuff,” Iovino says. “But lives can never be replaced.”
Visit these places for more details about disaster forecasting and planning:
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| 15 Jul 2021 | Full Interview with Jennifer Bridge | 00:38:25 | |
NHERI’s University of Florida wind hazards facility is one of the world’s largest and most diverse suites of experimental infrastructure. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the UF’s boundary layer wind tunnel is located within the Powell Family Structures and Materials Laboratory. In June and July 2021, the DesignSafe Radio podcast features interviews with NHERI at UF facility director and principal investigator Jennifer Bridge, who details the capabilities UF wind tunnel and the research it makes possible. Please enjoy our full interview with Jennifer Bridge. “How are we going to design resilient infrastructure of the future? It’s going to take all of us.” -Jennifer Bridge Related links:
Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook and Twitter. DesignSafe Radio highlights ways that NSF-supported research renders infrastructure and communities more resilient to natural hazards like earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and storm surge. The podcast is produced by NHERI, the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, NSF award CMMI 1612144. Any statements in this material are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. | |||
| 01 Jun 2021 | The NHERI Shake Table at UC of San Diego | 00:09:59 | |
The NHERI UC San Diego Experimental Facility is home to the large, high-performance shake table called “LHPOST.” Earthquake engineers use this huge outdoor facility at the UCSD Englekirk Structural Engineering Center to test the seismic behavior of full-scale structures. In the summer of 2021, LHPOST is in the final stages of a $16.3M upgrade that will enable its platen base to move with six degrees of freedom, simulating the full, three-dimensional range of earthquake ground motions: up and down, left and right, as well as pitch, roll, and yaw. In June 2021, DesignSafe Radio features Koorosh Lotfizadeh, PhD, operations manager at the UC San Diego facility. In three episodes, Lotfizadeh discusses the evolution and the research capabilities of LHPOST6. Koorosh Lotfizadeh introduces LHPOST, the nation’s largest shake table. He describes its components, its sophisticated machinery, and the advantages of an outdoor shake table—including the ability to use drones and GPS monitoring and to conduct fire tests. Lotfizadeh explains LHPOSTS testing capabilities, which include LiDAR, soil boxes, and hybrid simulation, and he describes the broad range of full-scale specimens that can be constructed and tested on the shake table. Related Links:
Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook and Twitter. | |||
| 08 Jun 2021 | The NHERI Shake Table UPGRADE | 00:08:07 | |
The NHERI UC San Diego Experimental Facility is home to the large, high-performance shake table called “LHPOST.” Earthquake engineers use this huge outdoor facility at the UCSD Englekirk Structural Engineering Center to test the seismic behavior of full-scale structures. In the summer of 2021, LHPOST is in the final stages of a $16.3M upgrade that will enable its platen base to move with six degrees of freedom, simulating the full, three-dimensional range of earthquake ground motions: up and down, left and right, as well as pitch, roll, and yaw. In June 2021, DesignSafe Radio features Koorosh Lotfizadeh, PhD, operations manager at the UC San Diego facility. In three episodes, Lotfizadeh discusses the evolution and the research capabilities of LHPOST6. UCSD’s Koorosh Lotfizadeh explains the shake table upgrade, which will enable itto shake structures with six degrees of freedom.The newly named LHPOST6 can simulate subtle ground rotations, for example, which will provide new insights on inter-story drift, top-story displacements and the behavior of internal building components. Also, the new ability to test vertical motions will enable researchers to see “punching” action by building columns. Learn how the facility staff can help researchers plan funding proposals and testing protocols. Related Links:
Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook and Twitter. | |||
| 04 Oct 2022 | Soil-to-Fluid Interactions with Barbara Simpson | 00:08:35 | |
Today we have an exciting meet-up with Stanford-based structural engineer Barbara Simpson — in person at the Oregon State University Wave Laboratory, a NHERI experimental facility. Simpson’s passionate about building computer programming skills in undergraduate engineers, particularly those in underrepresented groups who may lack such experience. She applies parallel processing in her own investigations in soil-to-fluid interactions in floating offshore wind turbines. Read more about Simpson’s work training undergraduate engineers in programming: https://stem.oregonstate.edu/people/barbara-simpson On her blog, Simpson discusses using computational and experimental methods to solve problems in natural hazards engineering: https://simpsoba.wordpress.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-simpson-9255445b/ Twitter: @StanfordEng @HinsdaleOSU, #NSFStories, @NSF, @NheriEco | |||
| 23 Mar 2021 | Tips to Prepare Your Home for Hurricane Winds | 00:09:29 | |
On today's episode of DesignSafe Radio, we speak with Erik Salna, associate director of the International Hurricane Research Center at the Florida International University. Salna explains tips on how to mitigate your home from future hurricane damage. A link on this topic has been provided below. Salna also announces exciting news for the NHERI Wall of Wind at FIU and how it will be utilized in future research projects. The Wall of Wind can replicate hurricane winds as high as 157 mph and can spray water to imitate hurricane rainfall. Which means wind researchers can perform tests on structures with Category 5 hurricane wind speeds. **Check out the full episode with Erik Salna when it is released on April 6, 2021.**
Preparing for a hurricane: https://dem.fiu.edu/emergencies/hurricanes/before/
Check out this article on How Disaster-proofing your home can lower insurance costs : https://grow.acorns.com/disaster-proof-your-home/
Articles on Erik Salna & his research: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2020/february/salna-inducted-meteorologist-hall-fame/ https://mods.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BIO_SALNA_12-17-20.pdf
NHERI Wall of Wind at Florida International University: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/ Inside Look at the Wall of Wind: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2019/december/fiu-wall-wind-featured-news/ See the WOW in action: https://newsarchives.fiu.edu/2016/07/imax-films-hurricane-force-winds-at-wall-of-wind Wall of Wind Informational Booklet PDF: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/media/cms_page_media/359/NHERI%20WOW%20EF%20Informational%20Booklet.pdf
Social Media Accounts for FIU Extreme Events Institute: Twitter handle- @FIUExtremeEvent Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/FIUExtremeEventsInstitute/
FIU Extreme Events Institute Website & Equation Link : https://eei.fiu.edu/equation/the-equation/
FIU International Hurricane Research Center: | |||
| 22 Jun 2018 | Episode 45 True Calling as a Wind Engineer with Jennifer Bridge | 00:38:34 | |
Today DesignSafe Radio host Dan Zehner meets up with Jennifer Bridge, a research engineer from the University of Florida – and deputy director of UF’s NHERI facility.
When recalling her initial interest in engineering, she says she enjoyed math and physics in high school, making engineering a natural career path. In college, she majored in civil engineering. A turning point, she says, was when a college job fair unexpectedly landed her a position working as a research assistant for an engineering professor. There, as an undergrad, she learned she liked doing research, and she realized with a PhD she could do research for a living. She briefly describes that early project, which was in wind engineering.
She earned her master’s and PhD at the University of Illinois. During her master’s studies, she worked with Professor Doug Foutch on wind loads on highway sign structures. The team needed to instrument and monitor sign trusses to find out why they were cracking. She loved the practical nature of the work. For her PhD, she worked with Bill Spencer. She learned about structural health monitoring and to design wireless sensors and platforms for collecting data.
She describes the kinds of data that are important to collect, including vibration based acceleration data. She describes how structures, because they have inherent dynamic properties, can be monitored to detect damage. She discusses the state of “health monitoring” research and explains one of the more practical uses of the approach, which is to monitor structures with known deficiencies.
Bridge talks about a project she’s wrapping up, using UAVs to do bridge inspection – which is a visual way to examine structural health. She explains how much of the work involves advanced image processing, which can be used for decision support. UAV flight control is trickier that you’d think, she says, so her team devised a variety of techniques to take photographs in a consistent fashion. She discusses the value of machine in processing images.
She briefly discusses University of Florida projects that use the NHERI wind tunnel facility to devise real-time structural optimization techniques, which allow engineers to design a structure while it is experiencing a wind load.
Bridge talks about her current project: in-field, full-scale bridge testing under coastal storm loading. She measures forces that bridges experience during storms. There are good models, she says, but there is not much real data. You can look at damaged bridges, but researchers still don’t know how damage happens. Bridge is aiming to get the info to fill the gap. It means developing the proper instrumentation, a sensor kit that’s fast to set up and strong enough to hold up during a storm – and endure underwater fouling. With NSF and Florida Department of Transportation support, she’s developing an instrumentation system for coastal bridges. She’s hoping for a robust and practical system that works in the real world.
Bridge has a prototype system on a Tampa Bay bridge, and she’s hoping to instrument as many as 10 Florida bridges commonly in the paths of storms and hurricanes. | |||
| 20 Jul 2021 | Researching Tsunami Debris Impact on Infrastructures | 00:10:31 | |
In the next set of episodes on DesignSafe Radio, we talk with tsunami engineer Mike Motley from the University of Washington. In an effort to predict debris loads on structures, he and his team are investigating tsunami debris flows from a statistical perspective. Motley calls it “embracing the chaos.” He is joined by his UW student team, Dakota Mascarenas and Abbey Serrone, and together they describe designing and conducting more than 410 individual experiments in the NHERI at OSU large wave flume. “We want to provide an approach to tsunami and other fluid-induced debris flows that will address critical needs of the engineering modeling community.” - Mike Motley, John R. Kiely Endowed Associate Professor at the University of Washington Related Links: | |||
| 04 Jun 2024 | Snakeskin-inspired piles and tech transfer Featuring Alejandro Martínez | 00:08:43 | |
UC Davis professor Alejandro Martínez is moving his bio-inspired snakeskin piles into industry practice. The novel pile-surface employs “frictional directionality” characteristic of snakeskin. Field trials provided better than expected results, and Martínez is now working to get his new design into the hands of practicing geotechnical engineers. Much of his NSF-supported research took place at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling; the project is part of the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center, the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, CBBG, at Arizona State University.
Background info on Martínez’s snakeskin-inspired piles: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2022/august/piles-inspired-snakeskin/
Learn more about the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) called the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, CBBG, based at Arizona State University https://cbbg.engineering.asu.edu/
Engineering researchers use centrifugal force to study natural hazards at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling facility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlLTdPaOUFk
Read up on Professor Martínez’s research at UC Davis: https://faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu/martinez/
Follow Alejandro Martínez on X: @MartVAlejandro
Follow the NHERI Center for Geotechnical Modeling on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Center-for-Geotechnical-Modeling/10006311110707 | |||
| 21 Sep 2021 | Extreme Events Reconnaissance Teams | 00:11:36 | |
In our second episode with Lori Peek of the NHERI CONVERGE facility, Peek discusses the social infrastructure that enables extreme events reconnaissance (EER) teams to work together on NSF-funded natural hazards research. She explains the NHERI Leadership Corps and how this coordinating group unites researchers from different disciplines — from engineers to social scientists to data scientists. She also gives examples of how EER teams differ in their actions and membership. Lastly, Peek describes the shared commitment among EER teams, to gather and share their data publicly on the NHERI DesignSafe cyberinfrastructure — so the full gamut of multidisciplinary natural hazards data is available for the entire research community to build on. Related Links: University of Colorado Boulder Converge Facility Lori Peek, NHERI CONVERGE Principal Investigator
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| 17 Jun 2021 | Koorosh Lotzifadeh Full Interview on LHPOST6 | 00:33:58 | |
The NHERI UC San Diego Experimental Facility is home to the large, high-performance shake table called “LHPOST.” Earthquake engineers use this huge outdoor facility at the UCSD Englekirk Structural Engineering Center to test the seismic behavior of full-scale structures. In the summer of 2021, LHPOST is in the final stages of a $16.3M upgrade that will enable its platen base to move with six degrees of freedom, simulating the full, three-dimensional range of earthquake ground motions: up and down, left and right, as well as pitch, roll, and yaw. In June 2021, DesignSafe Radio features Koorosh Lotfizadeh, PhD, operations manager at the UC San Diego facility. In this episode, Lotfizadeh discusses the evolution and the research capabilities of LHPOST6. This is the full interview episode with Koorosh Lotfizadeh. Related Links:
Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook and Twitter. | |||
| 02 Nov 2021 | NHERI Science Plan: A Guide to High-Impact Research | 00:08:49 | |
In this episode, NHERI’s Ian Robertson discusses how natural hazards engineers quantify how well they are addressing the big problems, sometimes called “grand challenges.” For civil engineers, success is often measured by the incorporation of new designs into building codes. Robertson discusses the long-term processes for getting ideas for resilient structures into actual practice. For instance, the NHERI Science Plan highlights high-impact areas for study and provides examples of the kinds of research needed to get into code — and address the grand challenges. “By incorporating social science in our engineering research, we can be more cognizant of how it is going to impact society.” - Ian Robertson Find details and download the NHERI Science Plan: | |||
| 17 Oct 2023 | Understanding major storms: key to coastal resilience | 00:05:04 | |
Episode 3 Understanding major storms: key to coastal resilience
Understanding the behavior of coastal systems requires specialized researchers, including engineers, to instrument shorelines before a major storm — and to collect and analyze the resulting data. Woods Hole scientist Britt Raubenheimer reiterates the vital importance of federal funding, including NSF funding, which allows for multidisciplinary teams like NEER to perform nested, coordinated reconnaissance missions with NHERI engineers and agencies like USGS and NOAA.
NEER website: https://neerassociation.org/ NHERI extreme events organizations: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/facilities/converge/ Follow Britt Raubenheimer on Twitter: @BrittRaubenhei1 Twitter: @NHERI_EER
Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research? Contact us: nheri.communications@gmail.com.
Entender las grandes tormentas: clave de la resistencia costera
Comprender el comportamiento de los sistemas costeros exige que investigadores especializados, entre ellos ingenieros, instrumenten las costas antes de una gran tormenta y recojan y analicen los datos resultantes. Britt Raubenheimer, científico de Woods Hole, reitera la importancia vital de la financiación federal, incluida la de la NSF, que permite a equipos multidisciplinares como el NEER llevar a cabo misiones de reconocimiento anidadas y coordinadas con ingenieros del NHERI y organismos como el USGS y la NOAA. | |||
| 01 Mar 2022 | Elaina Sutley - Full Interview | 00:33:06 | |
Enjoy our full interview with Elaina Sutley!
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| 27 May 2021 | Full Interview with Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein | 00:41:14 | |
On this episode of DesignSafe Radio, we speak with Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein, SimCenter educator and research associate professor of engineering at the University of Washington. Mackenzie-Helnwein and Frank McKenna, chief technology officer at the SimCenter, lead the popular SimCenter bootcamps. The courses teach programming techniques to natural hazards engineers—techniques such as automating data analysis and performing simulations.Accurate and detailed natural hazards simulations are crucial data for governments to make informed decisions about the security of their city or state. Please enjoy the full interview with NHERI SimCenter’s Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein. Check out the following links below for more information on the NHERI SimCenter and how you can subscribe to DesignSafe Radio for future episodes. “What we really tried to do is to create the sense of community, to create the sense of collaboration while learning because that seems to keep people engaged.” - Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein
Links for more information on the NHERI SimCenter:
Connect with Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein: Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook & Twitter. | |||
| 08 Jan 2021 | Soil Liquefaction in the Pacific Northwest - full interview | 00:48:45 | |
On this episode of Designsafe Radio, we speak with Arash Khosravifar, an assistant professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at Portland State University. Khosravifar explains his research on soil liquefaction, his experience researching with the NHERI mobile shaker trucks and the team from the University of Texas, Austin, and the new research he has been participating in called Microbially Induced Desaturation (MID). MID is specifically important research for the cities located in the Cascadia Subduction Zone and the “critical infrastructure energy hub” located in Portland, Oregon.
Check out the following links for more information on the topics discussed on this podcast episode:
Khosravifar’s NSF Grant Award 1935670: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1935670&HistoricalAwards=false
Soil Liquefaction Prevention Technique Turns in Promising Performance (published 7/24/2020) : https://intheloop.engineering.asu.edu/2020/07/24/soil-liquefaction-prevention-technique-turns-in-promising-performance/
Possible affected regions of Cascadia Subduction Zone: https://www.pnsn.org/blog/2020/01/27/getting-ready-for-the-next-great-cascadia-subduction-zone-earthquake
Collaborative Research Boosts Resilience in Cascadia Subduction Zone link: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2020/june/collaborative-research-boasts-resilience-cascadia-subduction-zon/
Designsafe Quarterly Newspaper Summer 2020: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/media/filer_public/bb/bb/bbbb4eb6-f7cc-4a54-9d37-9a69dde5e2d9/nheri_quarterly_issue_11_-_june_2020_v2.pdf
Articles including Khosravifar's research: 1. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=sfZGJNAAAAAJ&hl=tr 2. https://works.bepress.com/arash-khosravifar/ 3. https://utexas.designsafe-ci.org/projects/ Cascadia Subduction Zone and cities/states it could affect: https://www.pnsn.org/blog/2020/01/27/getting-ready-for-the-next-great-cascadia-subduction-zone-earthquake
The Centrifuge at University of California, Davis: https://cgm.engr.ucdavis.edu/facility/9-m-centrifuge/ | |||
| 09 Mar 2018 | Episode 31 Engineered Wood Structures with John van de Lindt | 00:25:11 | |
Today our host Dan Zehner talks with renowned earthquake engineer John van de Lindt, who has spent the past 20 years exploring wood-structure engineering and community resilience. Van de Lindt also is active in the NHERI hazards engineering community.
As an undergraduate, he started as a physics major, then moved to criminal justice and considered becoming a lawyer. Fortunately for the engineering world, he was inspired by a Statics course professor and changed his major to structural engineering – and went on to earn a graduate degree. Ultimately, he appreciates the transfer of knowledge: teaches earthquake engineering and wood.
He describes working as an engineer studying off shore structures: deep water oil platforms. It was his work at Michigan Tech that led him to testing wood structures. For one thing, he laughs, wood was a cheap material. He focused on testing shear walls in wood. (Sheer walls resist inertial loads, specifically the side-to-side forces.)
He explains that in the early 2000s, there were not many wood projects being funded, and they did not tend to be seismic projects. He says wood was thought of as a “conventional product,” meaning that it tended to be used in standard building projects -- although wood is used in less conventional ways In earthquake-prone regions.
Next, van de Lindt describes being part of a rather spectacular large wood project in Japan, called NEESWood. There, from 2005-2009, a group focused on building a mid-rise, six-story building — to a performance based seismic design. The shake at the E-Defense facility validated that design.
Building on such findings, a current wood project is underway at UC San Diego. The project, called Tall Wood is led by van de Lindt’s former student Shiling Pei. It will validate a 10-story at full scale at UCSD. Van de Lindt says that with so many universities and industry partners, including architects, involved, it is now possible we may see large wood buildings actually implemented. This project recently completed their first round of testing at UC San Diego this past summer.
After 2009, van de Lindt was part of a project called NEESsoft. It looked at large buildings with soft stories in San Francisco, buildings with relatively unsupported first floors that served as garages or retail space. Van de Lindt says everyone knew the buildings were dangerous but that the building owners no real incentives to retrofit. The NEESsoft project developed retrofits to protect buildings – which ultimately would prevent population dislocation after an earthquake. The team tested number of retrofits, including FEMA-based retrofits and performance based retrofits, hoping to give options to building owners. Because the buildings already existed, he says, there are many constraints, but achieved the best solution. He describes collapsing a four-story building to demonstrate what would happen without retrofits. Soft-story retrofits are now mandatory and still ongoing in San Francisco. | |||
| 13 Jul 2021 | Combining Research from the Flow Field Modulator with the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel | 00:06:33 | |
NHERI’s University of Florida wind hazards facility is one of the world’s largest and most diverse suites of experimental infrastructure. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the UF’s boundary layer wind tunnel is located within the Powell Family Structures and Materials Laboratory. In June and July 2021, the DesignSafe Radio podcast features interviews with NHERI at UF facility director and principal investigator Jennifer Bridge, who details the capabilities UF wind tunnel and the research it makes possible. In this episode, Bridge discusses more research possibilities with the flow field modulator (FFM). As well as revealing effects of transient wind events on structures, it allows researchers to combine BLWT terrain-condition measurements with the FFM. So you could, for example, insert a structural model in realistic terrain and discover its performance during downbursts. Also, the FFM enables researchers to test larger models in the urban setting, called the urban canopy layer. Lastly, Bridge discusses the difference between NHERI’s two complementary wind-research laboratories. The UF facility enables fine-tuning of models, and the Wall of Wind at Florida International University enables full-scale testing. Bridge notes the importance of collaborations between facilities and funding agencies — for designing more a more resilient civil infrastructure. “How are we going to design resilient infrastructure of the future? It’s going to take all of us.” -Jennifer Bridge Related links:
Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook and Twitter. DesignSafe Radio highlights ways that NSF-supported research renders infrastructure and communities more resilient to natural hazards like earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and storm surge. The podcast is produced by NHERI, the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, NSF award CMMI 1612144. Any statements in this material are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. | |||
| 30 Jan 2024 | Lehigh University's ATLSS Facility with Alia Amer Part 2 | 00:10:33 | |
Alia Amer Postdoctoral Researcher NHERI Lehigh Facility ATLASS Research Center Lehigh University
Hybrid simulation at Lehigh tests structural resilience In our second episode with NHERI Lehigh engineer Alia Amer, find out how this engineering lab performs real-time hybrid simulation, RTHS. This sophisticated, cost-effective testing method connects a numeric model of a substructure — with a physical model or device. Then researchers apply a natural hazard – wind, earthquake or waves – to test device resilience.
Lehigh website: https://lehigh.designsafe-ci.org/facility/overview/ Follow NHERI Lehigh on X: https://twitter.com/NHERILehighRTMD
Read more about Alia Amer, PhD, an up-and-coming researcher in the field of natural hazards engineering and resilience: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2023/november/researcher-alia-amer-is-all-about-resilience-large-scale-structures/
Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research? Contact us: nheri.communications@gmail.com. | |||
| 07 Mar 2023 | Jeffrey Berman Episode 3 | 00:04:46 | |
EPISODE 3 NHERI Tallwood: Testing earthquake performance of mass timber products In our final episode with NHERI Tallwood co-PI Jeff Berman, we learn about some of the wood products used in this 10-story wood structure — such as mass-plywood panels, cross-laminated timber, and laminated veneer lumber. Industry partners like Boise Cascade and Freres Engineered Wood have donated many mass-timber components, wanting to discover if they are resilient to earthquake loading. “This ten-story building has just about every type of mass timber that is currently made in it.” -- Jeff Berman
Here’s a list of industry partners working with the NHERI Tallwood team, including wood product manufacturers: http://nheritallwood.mines.edu/collaboration.html
@Boise_Cascade @NHERI_UCSD @UCSanDiego @UCSDJacobs @NSF @slpei @commresilience @MinesCEE @coschoolofmines @uwengineering
#NHERITallwood #CLT #Crosslaminatedtimber #CLT #massTimber #naturalhazards #resilience #NSFfunded #earthquakeEngineering #NSFStories Get the backstory on NHERI Tallwood: http://nheritallwood.mines.edu/
DYK? UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering is home the world’s largest outdoor shake table. It’s called LHPOST, the Large High-Performance Outdoor Shake Table. | |||
| 08 Jan 2021 | Soil Liquefaction in the Pacific Northwest - short episode | 00:28:42 | |
On this episode of Designsafe Radio, we speak with Arash Khosravifar, an assistant professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at Portland State University. Khosravifar explains his research on soil liquefaction, his experience researching with the NHERI mobile shaker trucks and the team from the University of Texas, Austin, and the new research he has been participating in called Microbially Induced Desaturation (MID). MID is specifically important research for the cities located in the Cascadia Subduction Zone and the “critical infrastructure energy hub” located in Portland, Oregon.
Check out the following links for more information on the topics discussed on this podcast episode:
Khosravifar’s NSF Grant Award 1935670: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1935670&HistoricalAwards=false
Soil Liquefaction Prevention Technique Turns in Promising Performance (published 7/24/2020) : https://intheloop.engineering.asu.edu/2020/07/24/soil-liquefaction-prevention-technique-turns-in-promising-performance/
Possible affected regions of Cascadia Subduction Zone: https://www.pnsn.org/blog/2020/01/27/getting-ready-for-the-next-great-cascadia-subduction-zone-earthquake
Collaborative Research Boosts Resilience in Cascadia Subduction Zone link: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2020/june/collaborative-research-boasts-resilience-cascadia-subduction-zon/
Designsafe Quarterly Newspaper Summer 2020: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/media/filer_public/bb/bb/bbbb4eb6-f7cc-4a54-9d37-9a69dde5e2d9/nheri_quarterly_issue_11_-_june_2020_v2.pdf
Articles including Khosravifar's research: 1. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=sfZGJNAAAAAJ&hl=tr 2. https://works.bepress.com/arash-khosravifar/ 3. https://utexas.designsafe-ci.org/projects/ Cascadia Subduction Zone and cities/states it could affect: https://www.pnsn.org/blog/2020/01/27/getting-ready-for-the-next-great-cascadia-subduction-zone-earthquake
The Centrifuge at University of California, Davis: https://cgm.engr.ucdavis.edu/facility/9-m-centrifuge/ | |||
| 25 May 2021 | The Future of Hazard Simulations is Here | 00:13:58 | |
On this episode of DesignSafe Radio, we speak with Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein, SimCenter educator and research associate professor of engineering at the University of Washington. Mackenzie Helnwein and Frank McKenna, chief technology officer at the SimCenter, lead the popular SimCenter bootcamps. The courses teach programming techniques to natural hazards engineers—techniques such as automating data analysis and performing simulations.Accurate and detailed natural hazards simulations are crucial data for governments to make informed decisions about the security of their city or state. The SimCenter’s Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein details ways engineers equipped with programming knowledge can simulate earthquake and wind damage—in specific areas, down to the street and building level. He explains how hazard simulations enable policy makers to make informed decisions, using the Seattle waterfront viaduct as an example. "We tried to get these simulations to a speed where we could say 'we have possibly twenty four hours until the event' and by predicting where are the most difficult zones, where are high damage areas, immediately deploy supplies there, but do it a little bit smarter. Think of Hurricane Katrina, instead of reacting, to become proactive." - Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein Links for more information on the NHERI SimCenter:
Connect with Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein: Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook & Twitter. | |||
| 23 Aug 2022 | Engineering Education with Jeremy Waisome | 00:08:56 | |
Today we delve into engineering education with Jeremy Waisome, instructional assistant professor at the University of Florida. As well as being an engineer and researcher, Waisome is an eloquent science communicator. She’s dedicated to educating the next generation of engineers — and the public — about vital engineering concepts. Among her many roles, she leads education and outreach efforts at the NHERI University of Florida facility. #engineeringeducation #sciencecommunications #rolemodeling Jeremy Waisome at the University of Florida: https://www.essie.ufl.edu/programs/engineering-education/name/jeremy-waisome/ Jeremy Waisome’s personal website: https://www.jeremywaisome.com/about LinkedIn: @jwaisome
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| 13 Jul 2018 | Episode 47: Legendary Hurricane Hunter Frank Marks (R) | 01:05:06 | |
Legendary hurricane hunter Frank Marks Today’s guest is Frank Marks, legendary NOAA meteorologist and tropical cyclone expert. Since the 1980s, he’s flown 10,000 hours on NOAA’s P3 Orion aircraft, including through many, many hurricanes. Marks, who now leads NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division, clearly enjoys learning. He shares some of his favorite experiences with us. Curiosity and a career path. He got curious about weather in grade school. His neighbor, a science teacher, kept weather instruments in his yard. Soon Marks was one of his students, learning how to make measurements with such instruments. He joined the school’s weather club and learned things like how to decode meteorological messages that came in by teletype machine. He explains using “old fashioned” methods of gathering and interpreting data to make forecasts, which were and posted at school every day. He lived near an IBM facility, and he describes a senior class project that involved learning how to program an IBM computer, using punch cards, to do meteorological work. In college, Marks enjoyed learning from brilliant professors and became interested in fluid dynamics. In graduate school at MIT, he had an opportunity to do a three-month internship in Senegal -- to work on an important Atlantic tropical weather experiment that involved multiple aircraft and a fleet of weather ships. It was a life-changing experience. Marks urges young researchers to take risks when opportunities knock. He details his “trial by fire” during that internship, which included doing a lot of analysis by hand. Eventually, by studying lots of data and watching for patterns, he became an expert on tropical convection variability. That internship led to a job offer from NOAA’s hurricane research lab — where he’s worked for the past 37 years. | |||
| 01 Dec 2023 | SPECIAL EPISODE: NHERI Science Plan (Spanish Audio) | 00:07:06 | |
Este episodio se publicó originalmente en 7 nobiembre 2023.
Formas de aprovechar las instalaciones financiadas por la NSF en la investigación sobre riesgos naturales
Acaba de publicarse la 3ª edición del Plan Científico del NHERI. Esta completa guía de investigación de 130 páginas describe las formas en que los investigadores pueden utilizar las instalaciones financiadas por la NSF para estudiar los daños causados por los peligros naturales y su prevención. El autor principal, Ian Robertson, ingeniero de investigación de la Universidad de Hawai, ofrece una visión general de esta valiosa obra de referencia.
NOVEDAD en la tercera edición:
-- Software de simulación NHERI SimCenter para estimar daños y simular medidas de mitigación. -- Recursos de ciencias sociales NHERI CONVERGE, para incorporar metodologías de ciencias sociales. -- MÁS equipos de sucesos extremos que llevan a cabo misiones de reconocimiento tras los sucesos. Descargar el Plan Científico del NHERI: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/data/browser/public/designsafe.storage.published/PRJ-4240
Más información sobre la Infraestructura de Investigación en Ingeniería de Riesgos Naturales, NHERI: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/
#techtransfer #researchtopractice #NSFfunded #Scienceplan #naturalhazardsEngineering #naturalHazards #extremeEvents #disasterScience #NHERISimCenter #simulationSoftware #hazardModeling #hazardsEngineering #engineeringResearch | |||
| 25 May 2018 | Episode 41 - Creating a tsunami — on a centrifuge with Maggie Exton | 00:35:36 | |
On this week’s episode host Dan Zehner talks with Maggie Exton, a PhD candidate at Oregon State University focusing on tsunami inundation. She talks about her interest in engineering and her current research project: creating tsunamis on a centrifuge.
She says her father, a sculptor, helped interest her in building things as a kid. As an undergraduate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute she studied materials science and engineering. Also at RPI she earned her master’s degree in geotechnical engineering. She learned to love centrifuge modeling at RPI, where she modeled levees.
It is a heady feeling being in graduate school and focusing primarily research, she says. It can be confusing trying to figure out everything that’s going on.
Although she’s working on her PhD with tsunami experts at Oregon State University (one of the eight NHERI facilities), she and her research group are performing some of their experiments at the Center for Geotechnical Modeling at UC Davis, another NHERI facility. She describes working with the large, nine-meter radius centrifuge at the CGM, where her research team is building a “tsunami box” to spin on the centrifuge. The spinning centrifuge can model – very quickly – the effects of a tsunami wave on soil. They model the tsunami runup in .1 seconds, she says. The centrifuge tests at 40g, spinning at 63rpm.
Her team is the first to model a tsunami on the centrifuge, and building the tsunami box is a trial-and-error process. She describes the intricate experiment, which must have a reservoir of water, a gate to release water over the soil sample, and then another gate to let the water flow out. To make it work, she says, there’s intensive collaboration between her research group at OSU and the faculty at UC Davis.
The tsunami box needs to be adjustable so researchers can configure it as they continue their experiments. In the initial experiments, she says the flow was too fast, 10 meters per second. Five meters per second is preferable for emulating the tsunami wave. As the tests take place, a video camera records the action – which the researchers play back in slow motion. They added flow tracers, tiny Styrofoam balls, to track the exact movement of the water in the centrifuge.
This summer Exton will be back at UC Davis for another round of centrifuge testing. After that, she’ll analyze the resulting data. Exton is intrigued by the variety and pace of research underway at UC Davis – and especially the gigantic centrifuge. It’s so big, she says, it’s humbling. | |||
| 12 Jul 2022 | Post-processing Natural Hazards Reconnaissance Data | 00:10:17 | |
What happens after a reconnaissance mission using NHERI RAPID tools? In this episode of DesignSafe Radio, RAPID director Joe Wartman discusses the post-processing phase, when collected perishable data gets converted into a form researchers can use. The RAPID team, with its knowledge and experience, smooths the way for research teams — from planning to obtaining practical output. https://rapid.designsafe-ci.org/ #NSFfunded #naturalhazards #extremeEvents #fieldresearch #reconnaissance #lidar #RAPP #bathymetry #accelerometers #seismometers #structuralengineering #geotechnical #research LinkedIn: @Joseph Wartman Twitter: @NHERI_RAPID, @NSF Facebook: @RAPIDNaturalHazardsRecon | |||
| 04 Jan 2022 | NHERI at UC Davis: Testbed for bioinspired, biomediated research | 00:11:41 | |
Snake skin, tree roots, and nitrogen-burping microbes! In our third episode on biogeotechnics, Jason DeJong discusses a few of the wild-sounding research projects that focus on imitating or controlling natural processes — to create safer, and more efficient, infrastructure.
Researchers develop ideas the Center for Biomediated and Bioinspired Geotechnics (CBBG), and they can test theirconcepts at places like NHERI at UC Davis and at otherfacilities in the NSF-funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI). Both NHERI and CBBG are funded by the National Science Foundation, demonstrating the nation’s commitment to fostering and deploying emerging new designs and technologies in bioengineering.
“It’s a nice combination. We have technologies emerging from one group, and we have these established, shared-use national resources provided through NHERI.” | |||
| 10 Aug 2021 | Student Research Experiences at NHERI’s SimCenter | 00:13:35 | |
NHERI’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program provides 10 weeks of hands-on research experience for undergrads from across the country. In this episode, three young engineers describe their experiences working at the NHERI SimCenter, the network’s simulation hub based at UC Berkeley. The students are Adithya Salil Nair from the Ohio State University, Clair Sorensen from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and William Zakka from University of Texas Austin. Related Links: NHERI REU Summer Program Information | |||
| 03 Oct 2023 | NEER Episode 2 : Nearshore breakwaters and unintended consequences | 00:07:11 | |
Britt Raubenheimer, PhD Senior Scientist, Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Principal Investigator, Nearshore Extreme Event Reconnaissance team, NEER
Episode 2 NEER: Nearshore breakwaters and unintended consequences
Coastal scientist Britt Raubenheimer describes NEER’s data reconnaissance missions before, during, and after Hurricane Laura, which struck southwestern Louisiana in 2020. NEER data revealed that breakwater structures could slow storm-surge inundation – but then they would also retain floodwaters passing through it, significantly slowing recovery of the shoreland marsh.
NEER website: https://neerassociation.org/ NHERI extreme events organizations: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/facilities/converge/ Follow Britt Raubenheimer on Twitter: @BrittRaubenhei1 Twitter: @NHERI_EER
Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research? Contact us: nheri.communications@gmail.com.
NEER: Rompeolas cercanos a la costa y consecuencias imprevistas
El científico costero Britt Raubenheimer describe las misiones de reconocimiento de datos del NEER antes, durante y después del huracán Laura, que azotó el suroeste de Luisiana en 2020. Los datos del NEER revelaron que las estructuras de rompeolas podían ralentizar las inundaciones provocadas por las tormentas, pero también retendrían las aguas de crecida que las atravesaran, lo que ralentizaría considerablemente la recuperación de las marismas costeras. | |||
| 18 May 2021 | Programming Skills & Natural Hazards Research | 00:10:10 | |
On this episode of DesignSafe Radio, we speak with Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein, SimCenter educator and research associate professor of engineering at the University of Washington. Mackenzie Helnwein and Frank McKenna, chief technology officer at the SimCenter, lead the popular SimCenter bootcamps. The courses teach programming techniques to natural hazards engineers—techniques such as automating data analysis and performing simulations.Accurate and detailed natural hazards simulations are crucial data for governments to make informed decisions about the security of their city or state. The SimCenter’s Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein discusses the type of programming skills modern natural hazards engineers need, and how these skills differ from typical computer science skills.He also explains the importance of “community” when it comes to solving natural hazards engineering problems. “I think this worked out so well. It made a difference that I haven't seen in any real classroom environment... and I think it created community.” - Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein Links for more information on the NHERI SimCenter:
Connect with Peter Mackenzie-Helnwein: Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook & Twitter. | |||
| 14 Apr 2025 | The Future of Wildfire Mitigation | 00:06:04 | |
Research engineer Erica Fischer wraps up by noting that engineers, such as those in the NSF NHERI natural hazards community, are working on multiple fronts to leverage their skills and knowledge to reduce damage from future urban-wildland conflagrations. Follow Erica Fischer on LinkedIn: And on the X platform: | |||
| 01 Dec 2023 | Nicos Makris: Dampers: shock absorbers for buildings | 00:06:02 | |
Nicos Makris, Professor and Chair of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering Southern Methodist University
Makris episode 1
Dampers: shock absorbers for buildings Earthquake engineer Nicos Makris joins us to discuss protective dampers, large-scale devices that function like shock absorbers for buildings and bridges. Dampers built into a structure absorb and isolate earthquake, wind, and traffic vibrations. Prof Makris reveals a new type of damper he’s designed that uses pressurized sand to address hydraulic failures in oil-based dampers.
More info on Professor Makris’s sand damper research at NHERI Lehigh: SMU-Lehigh Collaboration: Supplemental Energy Dissipation Through Pressurized Sand Dampers to CLT Rocking Structures https://lehigh.designsafe-ci.org/projects/supplemental-energy-dissipation-through-pressurized-sand-dampers-to-clt-rocking-structures/
Investigation of a Novel Pressurized Sand Damper for Sustainable Seismic and Wind Protection of Buildings https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2036131&HistoricalAwards=false
NHERI Lehigh facility: https://lehigh.designsafe-ci.org/facility/overview/
NHERI on X https://twitter.com/NHERIDesignSafe
NHERI on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/nheri-designsafe/
Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research? Contact us: nheri.communications@gmail.com. | |||
| 02 May 2023 | Stephanie Pilkington Episode 2: StEER reconnaissance: how does it work? | 00:09:59 | |
Episode 2: StEER reconnaissance: how does it work? StEER’s Stephanie Pilkington covers virtual damage assessments, travel and data-sharing logistics, and the business of deciding the types of damage data to collect. Field-mission complexities include coordinating w/local authorities and EM teams – and federal agencies like FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and in the case of hurricanes, NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
Visit the StEER website https://www.steer.network/
Join StEER on the NHERI Slack board: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/slack-online-collaboration/
Follow StEER leaders on Twitter: Stephanie Pilkington (@PhDisaster_) UNC engineer
David Rouche (@auburn_windengr) Auburn University wind engineer
Interested in extreme events recon and research? Follow NHERI Extreme Events on Twitter: @NHERI_EER
Keywords: extreme events, engineering reconnaissance, perishable data, natural hazards
Subscribe to the DesignSafe Radio audio podcast! Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/designsafe-radio/id1267927535 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/designsafe-radio Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Vn6sM7YP28aYgVUqjV5Vu | |||
| 09 Jul 2024 | Wall of Wind: Testing civil infrastructure Featuring Erik Salna | 00:09:59 | |
FIU-based meteorologist and educator Erik Salna relates some unusual but important WOW experiments to test the effects of wind loading on civil infrastructure such as construction cranes and electrical power towers. One unique project used flying debris in the wind tunnel to derive an algorithm for determining wind speeds in video captures.
Wall of Wind debris experiments to build an algorithm that will calculate wind speeds from social media-derived video: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2053935&HistoricalAwards=false
Research on transmission towers: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1751844&HistoricalAwards=false
Research on construction site equipment in windstorms: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1635378&HistoricalAwards=false
See the WOW in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkI0UjmFFDs Visit the NSF-NHERI Wall of Wind website for details on research underway: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/
Follow FIU Extreme Events Institute on X: @FIUExtremeEvent Follow the Wall of Wind on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FIUWOW | |||
| 21 Mar 2025 | Homeowners Can Mitigate Wildfire Risk | 00:15:50 | |
On the policy level, states first must define and map the wildland-urban interface; then states formally define risk-categories and mitigations required. Examples: clearing combustible material within five feet around the house and updating roof and siding with non-combustible materials. Fischer details these steps and ways research engineers seek to simplify risk-reduction for homeowners. | |||
| 29 Jun 2021 | The Impact of Research Using the NHERI Wind Tunnel | 00:09:05 | |
NHERI’s University of Florida wind hazards facility is one of the world’s largest and most diverse suites of experimental infrastructure. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the UF’s boundary layer wind tunnel is located within the Powell Family Structures and Materials Laboratory. In June and July 2021, the DesignSafe Radio podcast features interviews with NHERI at UF facility director and principal investigator Jennifer Bridge, who details the capabilities UF wind tunnel and the research it makes possible. In this episode, NHERI at UF principal investigator Jennifer Bridge gives examples of the types of projects the facility enables. She describes wind-tunnel tests funded by FEMA, NIST and NSF that examined wind behavior on topographical models after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, many of which had direct impact on building codes. The facility is useful for researchers studying tornadic loads on residential structures — which are greatly affected by terrain conditions in wind storms. Bridge also describes a novel and super-efficient type of experiment called cyberphysical wind tunnel testing. These sophisticated tests allow for dynamic adjustments of the structure under consideration — in real time. Bridge says cyberphysical testing is the future of structural design. Related links:
Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook and Twitter. DesignSafe Radio highlights ways that NSF-supported research renders infrastructure and communities more resilient to natural hazards like earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and storm surge. The podcast is produced by NHERI, the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, NSF award CMMI 1612144. Any statements in this material are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. | |||
| 22 Jun 2021 | Simulating Wind Loads on Various Terrains with the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel | 00:09:23 | |
NHERI’s University of Florida wind hazards facility is one of the world’s largest and most diverse suites of experimental infrastructure. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the UF’s boundary layer wind tunnel is located within the Powell Family Structures and Materials Laboratory. In June and July 2021, the DesignSafe Radio podcast features interviews with NHERI at UF facility director and principal investigator Jennifer Bridge, who details the capabilities UF wind tunnel and the research it makes possible. The UF facility is a boundary layer wind tunnel, a large-scale instrument that wind engineers use for examining that space on the earth’s surface where the wind interacts with the built environment. As Bridge explains: “We simulate wind loads that structures are going to see.” Inside the wind tunnel, researchers use an automated tool called a “terraformer,” which creates model terrain conditions for subjecting to synoptic (large-scale, relatively uniform) wind loads. Bridge explains the importance of understanding the complex interactions of wind and structural geometry, including how different terrains can affect wind. Related links:
“We’re able to model different types of terrain conditions. We can do everything from the marine all the way through even urban terrain conditions. You’re going to get different wind profiles for different terrain conditions.” -Jennifer Bridge Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook and Twitter. DesignSafe Radio highlights ways that NSF-supported research renders infrastructure and communities more resilient to natural hazards like earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and storm surge. The podcast is produced by NHERI, the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, NSF award CMMI 1612144. Any statements in this material are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. | |||
| 13 Apr 2021 | Storm Surge & ADCIRC | 00:11:45 | |
On today’s episode of DesignSafe Radio, we speak with Clint Dawson, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin that has 25 years of experience with coastal engineering and storm surge research. In this short episode, Dawson explains the process of storm surge, the simulations performed using TACC computers, how the research data is published using the NHERI DesignSafe workbench, and the utilization of the software ADCIRC in storm surge research.
Check out the following links for more information: DesignSafe, ADCIRC Provides Storm Surge Simulators for Natural Hazards Community: https://research.utexas.edu/showcase/articles/view/designsafe-adcirc-provides-storm-surge-simulators-for-natural-hazards-community/ CERA – Coastal Emergency Risks Assessment: https://cera.coastalrisk.live/ Information on ADCIRC Software: http://adcirc.org/ Texas Advanced Computing Center: https://www.tacc.utexas.edu/
Clint Dawson Information: | |||
| 18 Sep 2024 | STARR software framework featuring Rachel Davidson | 00:10:10 | |
Working with the NHERI SimCenter and DesignSafe, the CHEER team is developing a software framework called Stakeholder-based Tool for the Analysis of Regional Risk, or STARR. STARR modeling extends regional loss models like R2D, INCORE, and Hazus to include a focus on decision making. STARR models describe the complex and often conflicting ways that stakeholders in vulnerable coastal areas make decisions. Stakeholders are households, insurers, and government agencies. If policies can account for positive outcomes for all stakeholders, they’re more likely to be implemented and sustained.
Learn more about the CHEERHub https://www.drc.udel.edu/cheer/
Read about the NHERI-CHEER partnership https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2024/july/nheri-partners-cheer-hub-hurricane-decision-making-framework/
HAZUS developed by FEMA https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps/products-tools/hazus
INCORE developed by NIST https://www.nist.gov/community-resilience/center-excellence
NHERI SimCenter R2D tool https://simcenter.designsafe-ci.org/research-tools/r2dtool/
CHEERHub’s NSF award summary https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2209190&HistoricalAwards=false
CHEERHub on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/cheer-hub/posts/?feedView=all
Rachel Davidson is an accomplished academic and research engineer. Discover more about her career and work: https://ccee.udel.edu/faculty/rachel-davidson/
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| 13 Sep 2023 | NEER: Improving resilience of the nearshore during extreme events | 00:10:22 | |
Britt Raubenheimer, PhD Senior Scientist, Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Principal Investigator, Nearshore Extreme Event Reconnaissance team, NEER
NEER: Improving resilience of the nearshore during extreme events Woods Hole scientist Britt Raubenheimer talks with host Dan Zehner about coastal resiliency. Raubenheimer is principal investigator for NSF-funded Nearshore Extreme Event Reconnaissance team, NEER. NEER deploys multi-disciplinary researchers to collect data on nearshore systems before, during and after extreme events. She discusses the 2020 NEER mission during Hurricane Laura – which made useful discoveries about the efficacy of breakwater structures in the Delta marshlands.
NEER website: https://neerassociation.org/ NHERI extreme events organizations: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/facilities/converge/ Twitter: @NHERI_EER
NEER: Mejora de la resistencia de las zonas costeras en caso de fenómenos extremos
El científico de Woods Hole Britt Raubenheimer habla con el presentador Dan Zehner sobre la resistencia costera. Raubenheimer es el investigador principal del equipo NEER (Nearshore Extreme Event Reconnaissance), financiado por la NSF. NEER despliega investigadores multidisciplinares para recoger datos sobre los sistemas costeros antes, durante y después de los fenómenos extremos. Habla de la misión NEER 2020 durante el huracán Laura, que permitió hacer útiles descubrimientos sobre la eficacia de las estructuras de rompeolas en las marismas del Delta | |||
| 01 Nov 2022 | Women in Engineering - Barb Simpson | 00:10:02 | |
What’s it like to be a young woman in engineering? Barbara Simpson shares some undergraduate and PhD experiences and talks about the importance of having positive, confidence-building mentors. Now a research engineer at Stanford University, she says, “This is where I was meant to be.” Ultimately, she says, diversity in engineering makes for more ideas, perspective and fun. Follow Simpson’s blog: https://simpsoba.wordpress.com And follow her on Instagram: @simpsoba Twitter: @StanfordEng @HinsdaleOSU, #NSFStories, @NSF, @NheriEco | |||
| 14 Apr 2025 | Intro to cold-formed steel as resilient framing material | 00:11:35 | |
Meet Johns Hopkins University engineer Ben Schafer, authority on cold-formed steel (CFS), also known as sheet steel or thin steel. Schafer explains that CFS is both strong and ductile – and therefore a remarkably high-performance structural framing material. Builders use CFS in a variety of ways – including as building-frame members, much like timber. Schafer’s research centers on CFS as structural framing to resist wind and earthquake loading. Thin and lightweight, CFS members comprise relatively little material; in the US, all cold-formed steel is made from recycled materials. | |||
| 30 Mar 2021 | Let's Talk About the 2020 Hurricane Season | 00:11:35 | |
On today's episode of DesignSafe Radio, we speak with meteorologist Erik Salna, the associate director for the Florida International University Extreme Events Institute and the International Hurricane Research Center. Salna chats with us about the 2020 hurricane season, how researchers can continue to learn from this hurricane season,and the importance of evacuation orders. The NHERI Wall of Wind at FIU has been used utilized to research the impact of hurricane winds on communities. It can replicate hurricane winds as high as 157 mph and can spray water to imitate hurricane rainfall. Which means wind researchers can perform tests on structures with Category 5 hurricane wind speeds.
Check out the full episode when it is released on April 6, 2021.
Preparing for a hurricane: https://dem.fiu.edu/emergencies/hurricanes/before/
Articles on Erik Salna & his research: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2020/february/salna-inducted-meteorologist-hall-fame/ https://mods.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BIO_SALNA_12-17-20.pdf
NHERI Wall of Wind at Florida International University: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/ Inside Look at the Wall of Wind: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2019/december/fiu-wall-wind-featured-news/ See the WOW in action: https://newsarchives.fiu.edu/2016/07/imax-films-hurricane-force-winds-at-wall-of-wind Wall of Wind Informational Booklet PDF: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/media/cms_page_media/359/NHERI%20WOW%20EF%20Informational%20Booklet.pdf
Social Media Accounts for FIU Extreme Events Institute: Twitter handle- @FIUExtremeEvent Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/FIUExtremeEventsInstitute/
FIU Extreme Events Institute Website & Equation Link : https://eei.fiu.edu/equation/the-equation/
FIU International Hurricane Research Center:
Check out this article on How Disaster-proofing your home can lower insurance costs : | |||
| 09 Mar 2021 | NHERI Wall of Wind at FIU | 00:08:44 | |
On today's episode of DesignSafe Radio, we speak with meteorologist Erik Salna, the associate director of education and outreach for the Florida International University Extreme Events Institute and the International Hurricane Research Center. Salna explains how the NHERI Wall of Wind at Florida International University has been utilized by researchers to enhance building structures and design hurricane resistant structures. Salna will also describe how he and his fellow researchers have collaborated with Oregon State University to explore the effects of water intrusion on structures.
The Wall of Wind can replicate hurricane winds as high as 157 mph and can spray water to imitate hurricane rainfall. Which means wind researchers can perform tests on structures with Category 5 hurricane wind speeds.
Check out the full episode when it is released on April 6, 2021.
NHERI Wall of Wind at Florida International University: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/ https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2019/december/fiu-wall-wind-featured-news/
Preparing your family & home for a hurricane: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2020/february/salna-inducted-meteorologist-hall-fame/
Social Media Accounts for FIU Extreme Events Institute: Twitter handle- @FIUExtremeEvent Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/FIUExtremeEventsInstitute/
FIU Extreme Events Institute Website:
FIU International Hurricane Research Center: | |||
| 27 Jul 2021 | Learning the Complexities of Tsunami Debris-field Behavior | 00:10:38 | |
Tsunami engineer Mike Motley discusses the data analysis work ahead for his team, which recently completed 410 individual tsunami-debris tests in the NHERI at Oregon State University large wave flume. They are working with thousands of time history plots: things like forces, pressures, velocities wave-heights — that all need to be associated with different debris configurations, accelerometer data (from debris pieces) as well as high-speed video data. They are looking for trends, with the goal of understanding what specific kinds of debris-loading looks like on structures. By identifying randomness with trends relating to mass, they hope to explain loading and damming patterns. Motley also discusses a coupled approach to debris-flow modeling, the next phase of the research. The plan is to join computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and material point method (MPM) models, which will enable the researchers to see how individual pieces of debris behave under specific fluid pressures. Related Links: | |||
| 20 Dec 2022 | Special Episode: Touring Tallwood | 00:20:06 | |
In this special DSR episode, earthquake engineer Keri Ryan takes us on a 20-minute walking tour of the NHERI Tallwood structure. See the 10-story mass-timber building under construction — from the outside in! This milestone experiment is taking place at UC San Diego on the world’s largest outdoor shake table. For the first time, researchers are developing and validating a resilient seismic design methodology for tall wood buildings. The work is funded by the National Science Foundation, with support from many industry partners. Curious? Get the backstory on NHERI Tallwood: http://nheritallwood.mines.edu/ Follow the NHERI Tallwood project with the live video stream at UCSD: http://nheri.ucsd.edu/video/ Find Professor Keri Ryan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keri-ryan-29332399/ #NHERITallwood #CLT #Crosslaminatedtimber #massTimber #rockingwalls #naturalhazards #resilience #NSFfunded #earthquakeEngineering #womeninengineering #NSFStories Twitter: @NHERI_UCSD @Unevadareno @UCSanDiego @UCSDJacobs @unrengineering, @NSF @slpei @commresilience @swinerton @MinesCEE @coschoolofmines @Boise_Cascade | |||
| 07 May 2024 | Conferences, reconnaissance opportunities for NHERI grad students | 00:13:42 | |
Meet Nurullah Bektaş, engineering PhD candidate and research chair with the NHERI Graduate Student Council. He talks with Dan Zehner about the virtual GSC Mini Conference, slated for May 31, 2024. Bektaş, who is earning his PhD from Széchenyi István University in Hungary, encourages grad students in natural hazards get involved in sharing research and conducting post-event reconnaissance. He relates his own field experience helping householders in Turkey after the devastating 2023 earthquake series in Turkey and Syria. Find out about the GSC Mini Conference: https://bit.ly/2024NHERIGSCMiniConference
Get details about the NHERI Graduate Student Council: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/learning-center/nheri-graduate-student-council/ Bektaş is involved with StEER, the NSF-funded Structural Extreme Event Reconnaissance team: https://www.steer.network/
Bektaş worked with the UK-based group EEFIT, Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team, when conducting field work in Turkey: https://www.istructe.org/get-involved/supported-organisations/eefit/
For post-event debris management, Bektaş mentioned another NSF-funded extreme event group, SUstainable Material Management Extreme Events Reconnaissance, SUMMEER: http://summeer.org/ | |||
| 16 Mar 2018 | Episode 32 From Earthquakes to Other Hazards with John van de Lindt | 00:34:27 | |
In part two of our interview with hazards engineer John van de Lindt, we learn how his career expanded from earthquake engineering to other hazards.
After the NEESsoft project, van de Lindt won a grant for investigating sustainable buildings, looking at tornado loading, trying to reduce damage and injury in expansive soils. The team’s structure provided safety by devising shelter in basement with sustainable backfill that prevents basement walls from being damaged. Ironically, during this time, his own family lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and was caught in the famous 2011 EF4 tornado that ripped through the area. Although his house was not damaged, he worked on an NSF RAPID grant to do reconnaissance on the area damage. (NHERI’s own David Prevatt led that work, showing what a small world it is for natural hazards engineers.)
He explains that, interestingly, mitigation methods in one hazard can translate to other hazards, which is why collaborative work is so beneficial. He says it is a popular PhD dissertation topic these days: showing how it’s possible to port a method from one hazard to another.
Currently, van de Lindt is co-director of the Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning, a NIST-funded center at Colorado State University.
And he is still working on wood projects. He describes wrapping up a project focused on cross laminated timber, which he describes as plywood on steroids. (Take 2x6 planks, laminated with epoxy, and build a large wall) Like the Tall Wood project, it shows that wood is strong enough to be used for building 10 10-18 story structures.
FEMA P69 analysis, “rational” approach to establish perf factors. For CLT. To establish update to building code in ASCE 2022.
Although he admits engineers grumble about building codes, and the amount of work involved in creating them, but they are what make buildings in the U.S. and Japan the safest in the world.
He describes how, in hazards engineering, multiple fundamental projects often lead to one really focused project. Or sometimes it’s just a matter of an ASCE committee doing the work to return to other, related codes, or talk to engineering groups in other countries, to “find the missing pieces.” Committees try to fill in the gaps, he says, so the world can share the data that codes are based on. “It’s how stuff becomes code,” he says.
Indeed, Van de Lindt gives back to the engineering community in these important ways. As a member of NHERI’s Network Independent Advisory Committee (NIAC), he sits with academics and practitioners to review the NHERI quarterly reports and independent advice for the grant managers and NSF.
NHERI CENTRIFUGE USERS' WORKSHOP Hosted by the UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling Friday, May 18, 8AM-5PM PST Register on the DesignSafe website: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/learning-center/training/workshops/3rd-annual-centrifuge-users/ WORKSHOP DETAILS: The Center for Geotechnical Modeling will be hosting a one-day centrifuge users’ workshop at the NHERI equipment facility at UC Davis on Friday, May 18th, 2018. The workshop will include tours and lectures by UC Davis personnel and outside users that will allow participants to understand the capabilities of the centrifuge facility, explore research opportunities and challenges, and discuss specific details toward developing proposals. Participation will be limited and priority registration will be given to:
Limited travel support will be available for workshop participants and those interested in receiving travel support should indicate so using the workshop registration form on this page. Participants receiving funds will be reimbursed for actual expenses up to a pre-assigned threshold of $1000 (junior faculty) or $500 (senior faculty). Currently funded NSF research teams are expected to support their travel costs within their existing research funds. | |||
| 15 Jun 2021 | Calling Researchers for Payload Projects | 00:06:48 | |
The NHERI UC San Diego Experimental Facility is home to the large, high-performance shake table called “LHPOST.” Earthquake engineers use this huge outdoor facility at the UCSD Englekirk Structural Engineering Center to test the seismic behavior of full-scale structures. In the summer of 2021, LHPOST is in the final stages of a $16.3M upgrade that will enable its platen base to move with six degrees of freedom, simulating the full, three-dimensional range of earthquake ground motions: up and down, left and right, as well as pitch, roll, and yaw. In June 2021, DesignSafe Radio features Koorosh Lotfizadeh, PhD, operations manager at the UC San Diego facility. In three episodes, Lotfizadeh discusses the evolution and the research capabilities of LHPOST6. In this episode, Lotfizadeh discusses the upcoming Tallwood project, the first to run on LHPOST6. This multi-faceted NSF-funded project is investigating the seismic behavior of tall wooden structures. On the shake table base, the research team will construct a full-scale,10-story, cross-laminated-timber building with a rocking wall. Lotfizadeh explains the purpose of non-structural payload projects, which are still available to arrange through principal investigator Shiling Pei, professor of engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Related Links:
Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook and Twitter. | |||
| 27 Feb 2024 | Improving seismic resilience and sustainable design with Andre Barbosa | 00:12:00 | |
Andre Barbosa Professor, Structural Engineering Oregon State University
Episode 1. The NHERI Converging Design project merges functional recovery with sustainability. Project PI Andre Barbosa of Oregon State University joins us to discuss how the shake table experiments at UC San Diego shake table will lead to improved building codes in seismically vulnerable zones like the Pacific Northwest.
Get background info on the multi-institutional NHERI Converging Design project: https://tallwoodinstitute.org/converging-design-home-5663/ Read up on Professor Barbosa’s research at OSU: https://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~barbosa/
The NHERI at UC San Diego shake table, LHPOST6, is the world’s largest outdoor shake table: https://ucsd.designsafe-ci.org/
Follow Dr. Barbosa on X: @BarbosaRDGroup
Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research? Contact us: nheri.communications@gmail.com. | |||
| 21 Feb 2023 | Jeffrey Berman Mini Episode 2 | 00:09:01 | |
NHERI Tallwood: Rocking walls in tall buildings. In our second episode with NHERI Tallwood co-PI Jeff Berman, we nerd out on “rocking walls.” How do these seismic-protection systems keep tall structures safe during earthquake shaking?
The NHERI Tallwood project is funded by the National Science Foundation, with support from many industry partners.
Follow the NHERI Tallwood project via the live video stream at UC San Diego: http://nheri.ucsd.edu/video/.
More #NHERITallwood partners on Twitter: @NHERI_UCSD @UCSanDiego @UCSDJacobs @NSF @slpei @commresilience @MinesCEE @coschoolofmines @CEMCO_steel @csinconline @strongtie @TechGlassProd @uwengineering
#NHERITallwood #CLT #Crosslaminatedtimber #massTimber #rockingwalls #naturalhazards #resilience #NSFfunded #earthquakeEngineering #NSFStories Get the backstory on NHERI Tallwood: http://nheritallwood.mines.edu/
Looking for earthquake shaking data? Visit the NHERI DesignSafe Data Depot, a public repository of natural hazards research data. https://www.designsafe-ci.org/data/browser/public/
On Twitter: Follow Shiling Pei (@slpei), Principal Investigator for #NHERITallwood. While you’re at it, follow NHERI DesignSafe (@NHERIDesignSafe) for all things related to natural hazards engineering.
DYK? UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering is home the world’s largest outdoor shake table. It’s called LHPOST, the Large High-Performance Outdoor Shake Table. | |||
| 09 Aug 2022 | NHERI RAPID Director Joe Wartman - Full Interview | 00:36:14 | |
Tune in for our full interview with NHERI RAPID Director Joe Wartman. After major earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, the RAPID team springs into action with specialized tools for data reconnaissance missions. Wartman discusses the RAPID equipment, key missions — and how engineers use perishable data to make our communities more resilient. #NSFfunded #naturalhazards #engineering #research LinkedIn: @Joseph Wartman Twitter: @NHERI_RAPID, @NSF Facebook: @RAPIDNaturalHazardsRecon Click here for more information on the RAPID Facility. | |||
| 24 Aug 2021 | What’s Next for SimCenter REU Students | 00:09:17 | |
In our last episode featuring the 2021 SimCenter REU students, rising seniors Adithya, Claire and Will talk about applying to graduate programs — which will enable them to conduct more research. For each of them, the summer research experience with the NHERI SimCenter has encouraged them to pursue an advanced engineering degree. They discuss specific ways that undergraduates can discover research opportunities and internships, which can give them a leg up when applying to graduate schools. Related Links: NHERI REU Summer Program Information | |||
| 07 Aug 2023 | Frank Lombardo Episode 2: Triangulating clues to tornadoes | 00:09:11 | |
Episode 2: Triangulating clues to tornadoes
Although dust devils can provide clues to tornado winds, U of Illinois wind engineer Frank Lombardo says tornadic behavior is still largely a mystery – and a bigger risk than researchers previously thought. He details ways wind engineers are piecing together answers, including simulations and damage surveys.
Wind Engineering Research Lab, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign https://publish.illinois.edu/ftlombardo/about/
Keep up with Lombardo and the UIUC Wind Engineering Lab on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WindLaboratory/ @WindLaboratory
Subscribe to the DesignSafe Radio audio podcast! Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/designsafe-radio/id1267927535 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/designsafe-radio Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Vn6sM7YP28aYgVUqjV5Vu
------------ Episodio 2: Triangulación de pistas sobre tornados
Aunque los remolinos de polvo pueden dar pistas sobre los vientos de los tornados, Frank Lombardo, ingeniero de vientos de la Universidad de Illinois, afirma que el comportamiento de los tornados sigue siendo un misterio y un riesgo mayor de lo que pensaban los investigadores. Lombardo detalla cómo los ingenieros eólicos están reconstruyendo las respuestas, incluyendo simulaciones y estudios de daños. | |||
| 13 Sep 2018 | Hurricane Florence Special 2 - Wind Engineer Frank Lombardo | 00:41:20 | |
Frank Lombardo Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Wind Engineering Research Laboratory University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
On the cusp of Hurricane Florence, host Dan Zehner was lucky enough to meet up with wind engineer Frank Lombardo. Based at the University of Illinois, Lombardo studies extreme wind events and and their effects on structures.
Lombardo says he has always been interested in weather. As a college student, he briefly considered atmospheric science, but went into civil engineering. When looking at graduate programs, the multidisciplinary PhD program in wind science and engineering at Texas Tech appealed to him. He completed his PhD there in 2009 and was hired on faculty as a hazards engineer at U of I.
He describes his focus: wind engineering and extreme events: thunderstorms, tornados and hurricanes. He says the scientific community doesn’t know a lot about how thunder storms and tornados and affect buildings. Considered annually, the majority of wind-related losses in the U.S. tend to be from tornados and thunderstorms.
Currently, building codes don’t consider how thunderstorm and tornado loads affect structures, he says. He is part of an ASCE working group collects data on storms so engineers can mitigate for them in the future.
Lombardo and Zehner discuss the differences between hurricanes and other wind storms. Hurricanes are easier to sample, he says. You have advance notice and the winds are large scales. Thunderstorm and tornado winds are smaller scale, and so harder to capture. Part of his work is developing new instruments to capture tornadic and thunderstorm winds. Wind engineers need sturdy, accurate instrumentation, he says, which means they collaborate frequently with Industrial and electrical engineers.
Solutions are inherently multidisciplinary, Lombardo says.
He discusses his newly created measurement tool, a “wind loading cube,” which is a four-foot cube. Lombardo and his team are testing out the novel device in Hurricane Florence.
He discusses the way he designs projects: get full scale data, try to replicate it in wind tunnels – which will, with luck, lead to strategies for damage mitigation.
The cube is heavy and anchored to the ground. It will measure wind loads on the cube. During the upcoming storm Florence, he plans to deploy in the Wilmington, NC, with University of Florida wind engineer Forrest Masters, who will be here with his wind measurement towers.
Lombardo’s research mission to Wilmington is part of the Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance, or StEER, network, which (among other things) coordinates official event responses. Deploying during a storm to collect perishable data is an integrated effort, Lombardo says. He discusses the importance of post storm surveys.
Overall in his research, he hopes to determine factors responsible for damage to structures. Many variables come into play, he says. Not just wind, but there is terrain, structural aerodynamics, and the structure itself. Has it been “hardened” for a storm? All the factors combine to determine factors that cause damage.
He discusses new ways for determining tornado and thunderstorm wind strength. After storms, intensity is determined by damage, not wind speed. Lombardo is examining things like tree fall patterns and vortex patterns to estimate speed of winds.
As part of the ASCE committee on wind storms, he knows that the ASCE’s 2022 building codes will include tornado design. His committee hopes to build wind speeds into code – although other factors are key, such as atmospheric pressure, rotation load, upward winds and debris.
Practical measures are important, Lombardo says. He says one way to protect your home from severe winds is to reinforce your garage doors. For roofs, you could even use hurricane straps. In his lab, he’s exploring devices for protecting home roofs, which are vulnerable in wind storms.
Lastly, Lombardo and Zehner discuss predictions for Hurricane Florence wind and storm surge. Follow Lombardo and his research team on Twitter: @windlaboratory. | |||
| 16 Mar 2021 | FIU Extreme Events Institute & International Hurricane Research Center | 00:06:57 | |
On today's episode of DesignSafe Radio, we speak with Erik Salna, associate director of the International Hurricane Research Center at the Florida International University. Salna explains the FIU Extreme Events Institute and the International Hurricane Research Center, and how they are utilized in research with the NHERI Wall of Wind. The Wall of Wind can replicate hurricane winds as high as 157 mph and can spray water to imitate hurricane rainfall. Which means wind researchers can perform tests on structures with Category 5 hurricane wind speeds. **Check out the full episode with Erik Salnawhen it is released on April 6, 2021. **
Articles on Erik Salna & his research: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2020/february/salna-inducted-meteorologist-hall-fame/ https://mods.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BIO_SALNA_12-17-20.pdf NHERI Wall of Wind at Florida International University: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/ Inside Look at the Wall of Wind: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2019/december/fiu-wall-wind-featured-news/ See the WOW in action: https://newsarchives.fiu.edu/2016/07/imax-films-hurricane-force-winds-at-wall-of-wind Wall of Wind Informational Booklet PDF: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/media/cms_page_media/359/NHERI%20WOW%20EF%20Informational%20Booklet.pdf
Social Media Accounts for FIU Extreme Events Institute: Twitter handle- @FIUExtremeEvent Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/FIUExtremeEventsInstitute/
FIU Extreme Events Institute Website & Equation Link : https://eei.fiu.edu/equation/the-equation/
FIU International Hurricane Research Center: | |||
| 11 May 2018 | Episode 39 Tsunamis in a Centrifuge with Ben Mason | 00:36:54 | |
This week, host Dan Zehner talks with Ben Mason, a natural hazards researcher at Oregon State University. Mason talks about his special interests: geotechnical earthquake engineering and soil-fluid-structure interactions.
Mason says that since childhood, he was interested in how things work. But it wasn’t until his undergraduate days at Georgia Tech that he discovered his deep interest in geotechnical engineering. Professor Larry Jacobs took Mason under his wing and encouraged him to go to graduate school. Mason says he envisioned traveling to earthquake zones and helping communities at risk from earthquakes and tsunamis.
As a grad student at UC Berkeley, Mason says, he spent a good deal of time working on experiments using the centrifuge at UC Davis, the Center for Geotechnical Modeling. He was examining “soil systems,” that, during an earthquake, affect the ground performance and naturally, the structures sitting on that ground.
But how exactly does the soil affect how buildings shake? And how can the performance of a soil system be improved? Mason’s interest in soil structure interaction extended to the buildings in dense urban areas — given that in an earthquake, buildings interact with each other through the soil. He says you can see evidence of this in post-earthquake zones like Katmandu, where one poorly performing building can damage many other, stronger buildings nearby. Mason describes how he used the centrifuge to model the problem.
Now at Oregon State, near the Cascadia Subduction Zone prone to earthquakes and possibly tsunamis, Mason studies soil structure interaction – and the variable of water.
It is a complex problem, with many compounding factors, he says. You can get photos after a tsunami or earthquake, and you can get images of a building before the event. Still, he says, you can only speculate some of the causes of damage. But, he says, thanks to smartphone video recordings of tsunamis, breakthroughs are being made. Mason mentions that fellow OSU researcher Hermann Fritz pieced together flow velocities of a tsunami based on amateur video footage.
Mason discusses his current research, also taking place at the UC Davis NHERI facility, which involves modeling a tsunami in a centrifuge. The team designed a tsunami-maker for the centrifuge and rigged up a high-speed camera to track water surface and velocity during testing. The idea is to discover what happened to soil during an earthquake —and a following tsunami – and to see what it may portend for the coastal communities like those along Pacific Northwest.
Mason says he has excellent working relationships with the team at the Davis-NHERI facility, and he is pleased to be using the DesignSafe cyberinfrastructure. He says the platform is flexible and supports unique data inputs – which is important for researchers providing novel findings. And he and his graduate students like using the DesignSafe software framework.
For more information on Ben Mason and his research, read up on his faculty page at Oregon State University. | |||
| 16 Jan 2024 | Lehigh University's ATLSS Facility with Alia Amer | 00:01:30 | |
Alia Amer Postdoctoral Researcher NHERI Lehigh Facility ATLASS Research Center Lehigh University
Research engineer Alia Amer gives us an overview of ATLSS research center, core of the NHERI facility at Lehigh University. Amer shows examples of complex, large-scale tests – multi-hazard simulations – at Lehigh. The lab designs accurate, complete simulations, including soil-structure-interactions, of natural hazard events such as earthquakes and windstorms. Dynamic, quasi-static, and hybrid simulations!
Lehigh website: https://lehigh.designsafe-ci.org/facility/overview/ Follow NHERI Lehigh on X: https://twitter.com/NHERILehighRTMD
Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research? Contact us: nheri.communications@gmail.com. | |||
| 11 Jun 2018 | Episode 43 - Dan and Dan: Wind Engineers | 00:46:17 | |
Dan Lander and Dan Moore are wind engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute doing research using NHERI’s Wall of Wind facility at Florida International University. On this week’s show, they talk about their project and offer advice to prospective wind engineers.
Australian-born Dan Lander originally wanted to build things. When he discovered construction engineering held no joy for him, he switched to civil engineering, where he finds plenty of joy studying fluid dynamics. He recently completed his PhD at RPI. Dan Moore, about halfway through his PhD program at RPI, is from Vermont. Working the night-shift at a wind tunnel facility at the U of Vermont, he was fascinated by the invisible power of the wind – and by researchers with the skill to analyze the wind’s behavior. The pair do research together at RPI, with professor and wind engineer Chris Letchford.
Dan and Dan discuss their current project, which is examining the fundamental mechanisms that cause buildings to fail on the leading edge (roof eaves) under high wind loads. Lander says the goal is to design better tests for wind engineers, and then to build better wind-resistant structures.
Lander says the Wall of Wind facility is an ideal size -- almost full scale, so they can get plenty of detailed data in a controlled environment. The researchers talk about the difficulties involved in scaling wind to small model structures. They discuss fluid dynamics and understanding what exactly the aerodynamic loading does that causes buildings to fail.
In their WoW experiments, they work with “archetype geometry,” squares and rectangles that mimic basic building shapes. Because fundamental research relates to how flow moves around squares and rectangles, the basic shapes are better than exact building models, they explain. There are a surprising number of complicated problems and unanswered questions they hope to address.
They discuss they types of sensors they use and, as they are in the early stages of the project, the importance of doing flow conditioning to “smooth out” the wind flow. They’ll introduce turbulence later in the study.
They explain the interdisciplinary nature of their work – which allows them to approach problems from different perspectives. Concurrently with the WoW experiments, the pair is running experiments at RPI in the aeronautical lab wind tunnel – where they get different types of data – and insights. At RPI’s Center for Flow Physics and Control, aeronautic engineers look at air foils and have different techniques for measuring flow – which are useful to wind engineers.
Moore and Lander have good advice. For engineering students considering wind engineering, make sure you get along with your advisor, Lander says. Make sure it’s someone you could maybe have a beer with. In general, research can be isolating, so surround yourself with people who inspire you and who you’re happy to be with.
As for research advice, Moore urges young researchers to stay persistent, to keep moving, even when a problem is frustrating. Lander suggests keeping good notes, whether on paper, in Excel, or in Matlab. And he recommends that researchers foster collaboration. It’s fruitful to have another mind looking at the problem with you, he says.
Host Dan Zehner adds that research notes also are important when it comes to data curation, so others can pick up where you leave off. | |||
| 07 Sep 2018 | 53 Advances in Wind Engineering at the University of Florida with Steve Schein | 00:39:56 | |
On today’s episode, host Dan Zehner visits Steve Schein, chief instrumentation engineer at the University of Florida’s Powell Family Structures and Material Laboratory.
From an early age, Steve Schein has been involved in science, coming from a family of engineers and scientists. He earned his degree in electrical and electronic engineering at UF and now enjoys building wind-generating machines for research projects at the Powell Lab.
A self-described instrumentation and measurement nut, Schein discusses a new wind machine project underway. It is a wall of fans: 319 prop-driven fans, each about 8 inches in diameter, and each driven by a 1 horsepower RC motor. Each fan will be able to individually generate any kind of wind field, such as gusts and turbulence, up to 40 miles per hour.
Briefly, Schein discusses another project underway at the UF, a scale model of Puerto Rico. The research team is it using to measure the effects of terrain on wind speed — in hopes of understanding damage caused by Hurricane Maria last year.
Schein describes another wind machine, the Multi-Axis Wind Load Simulator, called MAWLS, which is two stories tall and can generate 200 MPH winds. In one test, using relatively low wind speeds (not even Category five winds), MAWLS winds easily collapsed the type of unreinforced concrete walls typical in Puerto Rican construction.
Schein discusses building this wall of fans. His team started by building sample systems to see if they could build an apparatus that could make representative winds, such as down drafts, rotational vortices, and high frequency wind-peaks. After determining they could make it work, the team began building the machine from scratch. They 3-D printed most of the parts, including electronics mounting structures and air foils.
The Powell Lab team is the only one to build such a machine, Schein says. When operating at full capacity, it will consume about a half million watts.
He discusses some of the problems building the wall and details how it works. Schein says it be running in October and ready for research-testing by fall 2019. | |||
| 02 Aug 2023 | Episode 1: Wind engineers hunt dust devils with Frank Lombardo | 00:01:07 | |
Episode 1: Wind engineers hunt dust devils
Dust devils! Understanding how these short-lived whirlwinds behave may help wind engineers understand tornadoes. In field studies, U of Illinois wind engineer Frank Lombardo collects data on dust devils, which occur more frequently – and are easier (and safer) to capture – than their high-powered relatives. Lombardo’s team has recorded more than 50 of these brief, 45 MPH windstorms. Find out how, where, and what the data show.
Wind Engineering Research Lab, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign https://publish.illinois.edu/ftlombardo/about/
Keep up with Lombardo and the UIUC Wind Engineering Lab on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/WindLaboratory/
@WindLaboratory
Subscribe to the DesignSafe Radio audio podcast! Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/designsafe-radio/id1267927535 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/designsafe-radio
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Vn6sM7YP28aYgVUqjV5Vu | |||
| 18 Jan 2022 | Protecting Mobile Homes from Tornadoes and Hurricanes | 00:09:21 | |
It’s no secret: tornadoes and hurricanes wreak havoc on manufactured homes. So why don’t we build them stronger? To detail the challenges to improving their performance we have Elaina Sutley, associate professor of structural engineering at the University of Kansas. With an interdisciplinary engineering and social science focus, Sutley examines disparities when it comes to communities recovering from extreme wind hazards. Although the problem is well-known, change is slow. Sutley details the particular problems and complexities involved in upgrading design provisions for manufactured homes.
For more information: | |||
| 28 Sep 2022 | Engineering Education with Jeremy Waisome - Full Interview | 00:37:24 | |
Today we delve into engineering education with Jeremy Waisome, instructional assistant professor at the University of Florida. As well as being an engineer and researcher, Waisome is an eloquent science communicator. She’s dedicated to educating the next generation of engineers — and the public — about vital engineering concepts. Among her many roles, she leads education and outreach efforts at the NHERI University of Florida facility. Waisome describes a variety of pathways to engineering and why having a diverse workforce is so important. “There’s so much that we underestimate what we do as engineers — and the impact it has on other people’s lives.” she says. At the University of Florida, Waisome trains high school teachers at Title 1 schools to incorporate engineering projects into their classrooms. We learn the importance of exposing high school and college students to engineering education as a college major. Waisome explains enriching opportunities such as the NHERI Research Experiences for Undergraduates program and the importance of having role models and mentors who come from one’s own community. She also talks about her own podcast: Modern Figures, which features Black women in computing. | |||
| 15 Aug 2018 | Episode 49 Tsunami, Volcanos, and Landslides, Oh My! with Hermann Fritz | 01:02:31 | |
Hermann Fritz School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Georgia Tech
In this episode, host Dan Zehner interviews Georgia Tech tsunami researcher Hermann Fritz. Professor Fritz discusses his unusual academic focus and his current project creating a tsunami generating machine at the University of Oregon.
As a civil engineering graduate student at ETH Zurich, he was interested in studying flooding. Switzerland is highly exposed to flooding, landslides and other hazards related to climate. Fritz explains that as the permafrost line lowers, rocks and mountains become less stable.
As for studying landslide-generated waves, the trigger point for Fritz came from observing a human-generated landslide into Lake Lucerne. Although the resulting impulse wave did not match experimental simulations, Fritz was nevertheless fascinated by the work and spurred to study waves generated by landslides for his PhD.
He says a big challenge in tsunami research is that tsunamis are poorly documented, typically limited to observations of post-event occurrences like runups, scars and broken foliage.
Fritz provides a rundown of the events he’s studied, including the July 9, 1958, Lituya Bay tsunami in Alaska – one of the first tsunamis observed in modern times. The landslide was “like an elephant in a bathtub,” he says. Fritz had a chance to meet with survivors of the event, the Swensons, who happened to be on a boat that day and were able to provide a unique eye-witness account of the disaster. In that case, Fritz says, there was good agreement between the physical model and the event.
A more recent event he’s studied was the June 2017 landslide in Greenland. The giant rockslide caused a tsunami with a runup of more than 90 meters.
As a young professor at Georgia Tech, Fritz had the opportunity to study the aftermath of the December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami. He is grateful, he says, for being able to learn from a pioneering survey team at the site. He learned from the likes of USC Professor Costas Synolakis. The Indian Ocean tragedy proved to be a great learning experience for Fritz as an early career researcher. The basin-wide impact affected Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Sumatra. During the post event reconnaissance, the team analyzed video taken by eye witnesses, which enabled the researchers to calibrate flow velocities.
Fritz also had the opportunity to study impact of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan – which he had visited just 18 months prior to the event to observe the region’s extensive preparation for disaster: tsunami dykes, seawalls and vertical evacuation. Despite it all, 20,000 people perished. Fritz collected field data and analyzed video. It is one of the best documented tsunamis ever, he says. Submarine volcanic eruptions. At Oregon State University’s Hinsdale Wave Research Lab, a NHERI facility, Fritz is utilizing the tsunami wave basin to build physical models of submarine volcanoes with what may be the world’s first volcanic tsunami generator. The models fill in gaps that are difficult to observe directly.
Fritz discusses the rare, submarine volcano generated tsunamis that have happened in the past, including the island of Santorini in Greece and, more recently, Krakatoa – which killed 35,000 people due to landslides and tsunami. In the Hinsdale lab, the largest such facility in the U.S., Fritz can conduct large-scale experiments in a wave tank the size of an Olympic swimming pool,
Not only are volcanic tsunamis rare, they are compounded by ash, pyroclastic surges, and other characteristics, which make them difficult to study. In the lab, he says, he can isolate the elements. He is isolating the vertical explosion, wave propagation, landslide generation, the runup, the caldera formation -- all phases of an underwater volcano. The study will answer questions like: what kind of waves do we get, and how do they compare with other types of landslide or earthquake generated waves?
Follow Professor Fritz on Twitter: @hermfritz | |||
| 20 Sep 2022 | Engineering Education as a Career Path - Jeremy Waisome | 00:12:42 | |
In our final episode featuring Jeremy Waisome from the NHERI University of Florida facility, we learn the importance of exposing high school and college students to engineering education as a college major. Waisome explains enriching opportunities such as the NHERI Research Experiences for Undergraduates program and the importance of having role models and mentors who come from one’s own community. She also talks about her own podcast: Modern Figures, which features Black women in computing.
Catch up with Jeremy Waisome: Modern Figures podcast https://modernfigurespodcast.com/ @jeremywaisome on Twitter LinkedIn: @jwaisome Outreach at the NHERI at University of Florida experimental facility: https://ufl.designsafe-ci.org/outreach/ | |||
| 28 May 2024 | Engineering with Evolution Featuring Alejandro Martínez | 00:11:02 | |
UC Davis professor Alejandro Martínez explains how biogeotechnical engineers leverage solutions from lifeforms like worms, trees, and bacteria. It starts with fundamental, cross-disciplinary work with biologists. Then, at the UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM), centrifuge tests fill an important gap between laboratory ideas and full-scale field tests. For instance, by replicating ground stress and increased gravity in a centrifuge, geotechs can model and test designs at greater soil depths and across soil types. The NHERI CGM facility functions as a testbed for the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) called the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, CBBG, based at Arizona State University.
Read up on Professor Martínez’s research at UC Davis: https://faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu/martinez/
Follow Alejandro Martínez on X: @MartVAlejandro
Background info on Martínez’s snakeskin-inspired piles: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2022/august/piles-inspired-snakeskin/
Using centrifugal force to study natural hazards at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlLTdPaOUFk
Follow the Center for Geotechnical Modeling on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Center-for-Geotechnical-Modeling/100063111107077/
Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research? Contact us: nheri.communications@gmail.com | |||
| 06 Jun 2023 | Pedro Fernandez-Caban: Designing roofs to resist hurricane winds | 00:09:28 | |
Pedro Fernandez-Caban Assistant Professor Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering
Episode 1: Designing roofs to resist hurricane winds Wind engineer Pedro Fernández-Cabán conducts experiments at the NHERI University of Florida wind tunnel, trying to discover how to prevent roof failure in low-rise buildings during hurricanes. In this episode he describes how he uses a special component of the UF wind tunnel that creates large and long-lasting wind gusts: the Flow Field Modulator. See it in action: a cell from the Flow Field Modulator. Hold your ears! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ErHtAUU8Wns
Subscribe to the DesignSafe Radio audio podcast! Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/designsafe-radio/id1267927535 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/designsafe-radio Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Vn6sM7YP28aYgVUqjV5Vu | |||
| 19 Jul 2023 | Pedro Fernandez-Caban: Full interview | 00:02:32 | |
Wind engineer Pedro Fernández-Cabán conducts experiments at the NHERI University of Florida wind tunnel, trying to discover how to prevent roof failure in low-rise buildings during hurricanes. In this episode he describes how he uses a special component of the UF wind tunnel that creates large and long-lasting wind gusts: the Flow Field Modulator. See it in action: a cell from the Flow Field Modulator. Hold your ears! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ErHtAUU8Wns Pedro Fernández-Cabán also describes specific ways roofs can be altered to redirect wind flow and reduce suction pressure – and roof damage. Parapets, for instance. Another goal for his project: use the UF Flow Field Modulator to develop a roadmap for wind conditions, revealing how different locations are subject to specific sorts of damaging wind fields – and to provide mitigation advice to builders and homeowners based on that roadmap.
Fernández-Cabán on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nzBOhdoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao Subscribe to the DesignSafe Radio audio podcast! Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/designsafe-radio/id1267927535 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/designsafe-radio Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Vn6sM7YP28aYgVUqjV5Vu | |||
| 15 Jun 2018 | Episode 44 Cold Formed Steel and Shake Tables with Kara Peterman | 00:47:12 | |
For earthquake engineer Kara Peterman, joining the high school robotics team was a defining experience. She discovered she loved the applied sciences. So, when she entered Swarthmore College, she majored in engineering. Because she loved buildings and architecture, and she liked the idea of designing resilient structures, she decided to a focus in structural engineering.
She wanted to be a professional engineer, so she enrolled in the master’s program at Johns Hopkins University. She discovered she loved research, so she switched to the PhD program. She didn’t want to give up on the idea of a being a PE, but research was too important, she says. At Johns Hopkins, she learned that she loved experiments. She found the unknown compelling. Research is like a mystery, she says. You work until you have enough clues to solve the problem.
As a PhD candidate, her advisor was Ben Schafer, who introduced her to shake table testing. Currently she’s working with him as a colleague, along with Prof Tara Hutchinson of UC San Diego, on an industry-supported shake test at the LH POST facility at UC San Diego.
The team is developing the shake experiment with the American Iron and Steel Institute. Peterman describes the cold-formed steel project, which involves multiple components, including testing of isolated diaphragms, a fancy term for floor or roof.
Peterman discusses preparations for the November and December 2018 shake tests which will include performance testing of diaphragms. Another part of the test is discovering the effects of earthquake acceleration. The team will be looking capture deformations, captured by displacement sensors.
Peterman details what is involved in planning for a major shake table test. On this test, the team is getting input from industry as well as from research engineers. They can’t test everything, she says, so the team puts together a short list of tests. Next, they will design the specimens, balancing theoretical versus practical building designs. Then, the team will order building materials and build the specimen.
When it comes to lessons learned, Peter recommends an article called The importance of stupidity in academic research from the blog Sh*t Academics Say. The article recommends researchers being at ease with the fact they don’t know. There is no room for ego in research, she says. If you want to trust your work, you need to validate it.
As for bad advice, Peterman hearkens back to her days on the high school robotics team when the advisor told her, “do what you’re good at” and assigned her to a task she was familiar with: writing — when she wanted to build robots. If you only do what you are good at, she says, how can you explore and learn? At first, she was not good at engineering. But, she says, things worth having are worth working for.
She says it took her years to cultivate confidence in her work. In the lab, everyone competes for resources. So even if you lack confidence, she says, you need to put yourself out there and say, “I need this, I need you to do this.” It is often easier to let the seemingly more confident people take precedence, she says, but young researchers need to be more assertive. You are not being “bossy.” You just need to make sure your work gets priority.
Look forward to learning more about Peterman’s research at the NHERI-DesignSafe website. Meanwhile, read Peterman’s 2013 CFS-NEES blog about the experience of shake-testing cold-formed steel structures, which also appeared as in encapsulated form on Live Science. | |||
| 12 Apr 2022 | Distributed Acoustic Sensing - Brady Cox | 00:11:15 | |
Natural hazards engineers at the University of Texas are using fiber optic cable for subsurface and structural sensing. It’s called distributed acoustic sensing, or DAS, and it is much more efficient than traditional geophones or accelerometers. By sending laser light pulses through fiber optic cables — which are ultra-sensitive to light deflections — researchers can measure ground disturbances for up to 30 meters. Sound interesting? Contact the NSF-funded NHERI network to learn more: nheri.communications@gmail.com. NHERI at UTexas recently presented a workshop on DAS technology, including a live demonstration of a levee in Blackhawk, Louisiana. View the workshop recordings here. | |||
| 15 Feb 2022 | Applied Research to Improve Manufactured-Home Communities | 00:12:49 | |
In this episode of DesignSafe Radio, structural engineer Elaina Sutley covers ways that research can tangibly improve resilience of manufactured homes. She discusses local amendments to building codes that cities can implement. Currently, she and her research team are studying mobile home parks and ways to reduce wind damage. She emphasizes that dealing with windstorms is more than a building design problem, since residents in these vulnerable structures are often the most socially vulnerable. We also need systems in place to help people recover from natural disasters. Elaina Sutley’s research group at University of Kansas, Advancing Disaster Resilience Science on Communities and Housing.Wind damage data collected by Sutley and other natural hazards researchers is available at the DesignSafe Data Depot repository. | |||
| 06 Apr 2021 | Erik Salna & the NHERI Wall of Wind | 00:34:35 | |
On today's episode of DesignSafe Radio, we speak with meteorologist Erik Salna, the associate director of education and outreach for the Florida International University Extreme Events Institute and the International Hurricane Research Center. Salna introduces us to the Wall of Wind, a gigantic, 12-fan wind tunnel located at FIU — where it’s affectionately known as the “WOW.” The Wall of Wind is one of NHERI’s eleven research components funded by NSF. The Wall of Wind can replicate hurricane winds as high as 157 mph and can spray water to imitate hurricane rainfall. Which means wind researchers can perform tests on structures with Category 5 hurricane wind speeds. Scientists use the WOW to understand the effects high winds have on civil infrastructures and what can be done to improve construction to withstand damaging winds.
- Tips to prepare your family & home for a hurricane: https://dem.fiu.edu/emergencies/hurricanes/before/
- Articles on Erik Salna & his research: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2020/february/salna-inducted-meteorologist-hall-fame/ https://mods.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BIO_SALNA_12-17-20.pdf
- NHERI Wall of Wind at Florida International University: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/ Inside Look at the Wall of Wind: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2019/december/fiu-wall-wind-featured-news/ See the WOW in action: https://newsarchives.fiu.edu/2016/07/imax-films-hurricane-force-winds-at-wall-of-wind Wall of Wind Informational Booklet PDF: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/media/cms_page_media/359/NHERI%20WOW%20EF%20Informational%20Booklet.pdf
Social Media Accounts for FIU Extreme Events Institute: Twitter handle- @FIUExtremeEvent Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/FIUExtremeEventsInstitute/
FIU Extreme Events Institute Website:
FIU Extreme Events Institute Website & Equation Link : https://eei.fiu.edu/equation/the-equation/
FIU International Hurricane Research Center:
Check out this article on How Disaster-proofing your home can lower insurance costs : https://grow.acorns.com/disaster-proof-your-home/
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| 26 Mar 2024 | Sustainable Functional Recovery: A New Engineering Design Paradigm with Andre Barbosa | 00:10:00 | |
Episode 3: Sustainable Functional Recovery: A New Engineering Design Paradigm
The novel Converging Design research project merges post-earthquake functional recovery with sustainability. Project PI Andre Barbosa discusses potential results from this effort, such as building code updates and new building products. Other tangible outcomes: successful industry-academia partnerships — and a cohort of engineering students who will take lessons about _sustainable functional recovery_ into the future. Barbosa welcomes individuals curious about sustainable design to contact or visit to the Tallwood Design Institute, located on the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon.
Find out the Tallwood Design Institute, a collaboration between Oregon State University and the University of Oregon: https://tallwoodinstitute.org/
Get background info on the multi-institutional NHERI Converging Design project: https://tallwoodinstitute.org/converging-design-home-5663/
Read up on Professor Barbosa’s research at Oregon State University: https://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~barbosa/
The NHERI at UC San Diego shake table, LHPOST6, is the world’s largest outdoor shake table: https://ucsd.designsafe-ci.org/
Follow Dr. Barbosa on X: @BarbosaRDGroup
Collaborative Research: Converging Design Methodology: Multi-objective Optimization of Resilient Structural Spines NSF Award #2120683 https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2120683&HistoricalAwards=false
Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research? Contact us: nheri.communications@gmail.com. | |||
| 07 Dec 2023 | Testing novel pressurized sand dampers at NHERI Lehigh with Nicos Makris | 00:05:45 | |
Makris episode 2 Testing novel pressurized sand dampers at NHERI Lehigh
Nicos Makris explains his innovative protective damper system made with pressurized sand, which obviates problems presented by traditional dampers that use oil. In partnership with the NHERI Lehigh experimental facility, Makris is performing component testing and developing the numerical model in preparation for hybrid simulation testing, also at Lehigh. The cyber-physical tests allow researchers great flexibility when developing large-scale engineering devices.
#dampers #CLT #sustainabiility #crosslaminatedtimber #seismic #earthquakeengineering #hybridsimulation #RTHS #naturalhazards #engineering #LehighUniversity #SouthernMethodistUniversity #SMU
Read about Makris’s research and testing at the NHERI Lehigh website: SMU-Lehigh Collaboration: Supplemental Energy Dissipation Through Pressurized Sand Dampers to CLT Rocking Structures https://lehigh.designsafe-ci.org/projects/supplemental-energy-dissipation-through-pressurized-sand-dampers-to-clt-rocking-structures/
Nicos Makris at Southern Methodist University: https://www.smu.edu/Lyle/Departments/CEE/People/Faculty/Nicos-Makris
NSF Award: Investigation of a Novel Pressurized Sand Damper for Sustainable Seismic and Wind Protection of Buildings: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2036131&HistoricalAwards=false
Learn more about the NSF-funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, NHERI: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/
Contact us: nheri.communications@Gmail. | |||
| 04 Dec 2024 | Designing the World’s Largest Wind-Wave Research Lab | 00:14:42 | |
Plans are afoot to build the world’s largest wind-wave research lab, capable of generating 200 MPH hurricane winds and 5-meter-high waves. This NSF-funded facility will enable full-scale investigations into structural and coastal resilience — and a secure future in the face of destructive natural hazards. On today’s show, Florida International University wind engineer Arindam Chowdhury joins us to describe this facility, the National Full-Scale Testing Infrastructure for Community Hardening in Extreme Wind, Surge, and Wave Events — or NICHE, for short. About NICHE. The NICHE lab will have a 20-fan array capable of generating 200 MPH winds, that’s a Cat 6 hurricane — as well as generating transient winds like tornadoes and downbursts. NICHE’s enormous wind field will enable testing of full-scale two-story structures. It will have a 500-meter-long wave flume and be capable of generating five-meter-high waves. Significantly, the NICHE team is incorporating facility protocols for researchers to deliver expedient, real-world impact. | |||
| 28 Jun 2022 | RAPID Toolkit for Natural Hazards Reconnaissance | 00:07:15 | |
Facility director Joe Wartman details the NHERI RAPID tool kit. Natural hazards reconnaissance teams can deploy the RAPID’s laser scanners, drones, multi-spectrum cameras, listening devices – even a bathymetry boat. With many years of collective field experience, the RAPID team itself provides invaluable technical expertise. https://rapid.designsafe-ci.org/ #NSFfunded #naturalhazards #extremeEvents #fieldresearch #reconnaissance #lidar #RAPP #bathymetry #accelerometers #seismometers #structuralengineering #geotechnical #research LinkedIn: @Joseph Wartman Twitter: @NHERI_RAPID, @NSF Facebook: @RAPIDNaturalHazardsRecon | |||
| 22 Jan 2025 | Multipurpose Wind-Wave Experimentation | 00:13:58 | |
The goal of the proposed NICHE facility: To understand the joint destructive forces of wind and waves —at full scale — in order to design infrastructure capable of resisting damage from hurricanes, tornadoes, surge flooding, and related natural hazards. Among its capabilities, NICHE will enable: testing full-scale residential structures to failure; testing protective capabilities of natural elements such as vegetation; testing of “gray” structures structures like seawalls and breakwaters; investigations and modeling of coastal processes, including sediment transport. This future NSF-funded research laboratory is called the “National Full-Scale Testing Infrastructure for Community Hardening in Extreme Wind, Surge, and Wave Events,” or NICHE. | |||
| 07 Nov 2023 | SPECIAL EPISODE! Introducing the NHERI Science Plan, Third Edition | 00:07:08 | |
SPECIAL EPISODE! Introducing the NHERI Science Plan, Third Edition Ways to leverage NSF-funded facilities in natural hazards research
Just released: the NHERI Science Plan, 3rd Edition! This comprehensive, 130-page research guide outlines ways researchers can use NSF-funded facilities to study natural hazards damage and prevention. With lead author Ian Robertson, research engineer with the University of Hawaii.
NEW in the third edition: · NHERI SimCenter simulation software for estimating damage and simulating mitigation measures. · NHERI CONVERGE social science resources, for incorporating social science methodologies. · PLUS extreme events teams who conduct post-event reconnaissance missions. Download the NHERI Science Plan: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/data/browser/public/designsafe.storage.published/PRJ-4240
Learn more about the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, NHERI: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/
#NSFfunded #Scienceplan #naturalhazardsEngineering #naturalHazards #extremeEvents #disasterScience #NHERISimCenter #simulationSoftware #hazardModeling #hazardsEngineering #engineeringResearch | |||
| 29 Mar 2022 | Brady Cox, University of Texas Mobile Shaker Facility - Part Two | 00:17:23 | |
Here is natural hazards research that takes place outside the lab! Professor Brady Cox describes how engineers deploy the NHERI mobile shaker fleet around the world to study ground-based infrastructure like levees, soils that are prone to liquefaction, and civil structures like bridges. Watch Brady Cox’s demonstration videos here: Subsurface geotechnical imaging, as with levees: click here Testing for liquefiable soils: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cGbMggwxog&list=PL2GxvrdFrBlma1A6IMfMasP-RP8ku5s2N&index=2 Structural health monitoring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRX-WMumpDQ&list=PL2GxvrdFrBlma1A6IMfMasP-RP8ku5s2N&index=3 Interested in using NHERI Mobile Shakers in your work, or want to learn more? Contact us! | |||
| 20 Jun 2023 | Pedro Fernandez-Caban: Episode 2: Wind tunnel research to protect low-rise buildings from hurricane winds | 00:08:49 | |
Episode 2: Wind tunnel research to protect low-rise buildings from hurricane winds
In this episode, Pedro Fernández-Cabán describes specific ways roofs can be altered to redirect windflow and reduce suction pressure – and roof damage. Parapets, for instance. Another goal for his project: use the UF Flow Field Modulator to develop a roadmap for wind conditions, revealing how different locations are subject to specific sorts of damaging wind fields – and to provide mitigation advice to builders and homeowners based on that roadmap.
Fernández-Cabán on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nzBOhdoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Fernández-Cabán on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/plferndz/
See it in action: a cell from the Flow Field Modulator. Hold your ears! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ErHtAUU8Wns
Subscribe to the DesignSafe Radio audio podcast! Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/designsafe-radio/id1267927535 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/designsafe-radio Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Vn6sM7YP28aYgVUqjV5Vu | |||
| 25 Jul 2024 | The WOW Challenge and the future of wind engineering Featuring Erik Salna | 00:15:04 | |
In our final episode with FIU meteorologist Erik Salna, we learn about the Wall of Wind Challenge, an annual event for high school students. NHERI researchers provide a specific wind mitigation challenge. Student teams design and build a protective structure, and then get the chance to test their designs in the Wall of Wind. It’s an exciting competition, which is judged by engineers who are Wall of Wind alums! See below for links to the 2024 event and Salna’s template for conducting this popular STEM competition for high schools. NHERI Wall of Wind website: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/ 2024 Wall of Wind Challenge, cool video and the winning designs: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2024/june/2024-wall-of-wind-mitigation-challenge-high-school-teams-design-test-productive-wind-barriers/
Overview of the WOW Challenge event for educators, including a technical library: https://www.ihrc.fiu.edu/outreach-education/wall-of-wind-challenge/
The NSF NICHE facility, the future of wind engineering at FIU: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/facilities/experimental/niche/
Follow the Wall of Wind on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FIUWOW
Follow Erik Salna on X @ExtremeWxExp | |||
| 06 May 2021 | Storm Surge with Clint Dawson- Full Interview | 00:42:39 | |
On today’s episode of DesignSafe Radio, we speak with a professor at the University of Texas at Austin that has 25 years of experience with coastal engineering and storm surge research, Clint Dawson. Storm surge is the flooding induced by the winds from a hurricane. Dawson explains his extensive research on storm surges, how it impacts communities and infrastructures, and how the software ADCIRC is utilized in storm surge research.
Check out the following links for more information: DesignSafe, ADCIRC Provides Storm Surge Simulators for Natural Hazards Community: CERA – Coastal Emergency Risks Assessment: https://cera.coastalrisk.live/ Information on ADCIRC Software: http://adcirc.org/ Texas Advanced Computing Center: https://www.tacc.utexas.edu/ Clint Dawson Information: | |||
| 09 Mar 2023 | Jeffrey Berman Full Interview | 00:21:44 | |
NHERI Tallwood Megaproject: a research and industry partnership. DesignSafe Radio host Dan Zehner catches up with Jeff Berman, NHERI Tallwood co-PI and earthquake engineer from the University of Washington. Berman explains how “mega-projects” like Tallwood simply can’t be done without significant collaboration between academia and industry experts at companies such as Simpson Strong-Tie, Swinerton and others with expertise in building construction, engineering, and mass timber design.
The NHERI Tallwood project is funded by the National Science Foundation, with support from many industry partners.
The shake table experiment is slated for early April, 2023. Follow the NHERI Tallwood project via the live video stream at UC San Diego: http://nheri.ucsd.edu/video/.
More #NHERITallwood partners on Twitter: @NHERI_UCSD @UCSanDiego @UCSDJacobs @NSF @slpei @commresilience @MinesCEE @coschoolofmines @CEMCO_steel @csinconline @strongtie @TechGlassProd @uwengineering
#NHERITallwood #CLT #Crosslaminatedtimber #massTimber #rockingwalls #naturalhazards #resilience #NSFfunded #earthquakeEngineering #NSFStories Get the backstory on NHERI Tallwood: http://nheritallwood.mines.edu/
Looking for earthquake shaking data? Visit the NHERI DesignSafe Data Depot, a public repository of natural hazards research data. https://www.designsafe-ci.org/data/browser/public/
On Twitter: Follow Shiling Pei (@slpei), Principal Investigator for #NHERITallwood. While you’re at it, follow NHERI DesignSafe (@NHERIDesignSafe) for all things related to natural hazards engineering.
DYK? UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering is home the world’s largest outdoor shake table. It’s called LHPOST, the Large High-Performance Outdoor Shake Table. | |||
| 06 Sep 2022 | Misconceptions about Engineering - Jeremy Waisome | 00:10:03 | |
Misconceptions about engineering. Engineering educator Jeremy Waisome describes a variety of pathways to engineering and why having a diverse workforce is so important. “There’s so much that we underestimate what we do as engineers — and the impact it has on other people’s lives.” she says. At the University of Florida, Waisome trains high school teachers at Title 1 schools to incorporate engineering projects into their classrooms. #engineeringeducation #diversity #DEI #engineeringworkforce #globalimpact #pathwaystoengineering #title1 Jeremy Waisome at the University of Florida https://www.essie.ufl.edu/programs/engineering-education/name/jeremy-waisome/ | |||
| 06 Jul 2021 | Flow Field Modulator Enhancing Wind Engineering Research | 00:09:32 | |
NHERI’s University of Florida wind hazards facility is one of the world’s largest and most diverse suites of experimental infrastructure. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the UF’s boundary layer wind tunnel is located within the Powell Family Structures and Materials Laboratory. In June and July 2021, the DesignSafe Radio podcast features interviews with NHERI at UF facility director and principal investigator Jennifer Bridge, who details the capabilities UF wind tunnel and the research it makes possible. Professor Jennifer Bridge describes the flow field modulator, a new piece of equipment at the facility that greatly enhances the capabilities of the BLWT. The FFM is a bank of 319 very fast, individually controlled fans that can simulate transient events like wind gusts, downbursts, and thunderstorm winds. It can also replay wind events (called time histories) with data collected in the field, for example by the UF’s “storm chaser” team and its mobile weather towers. The facility is unique in its scale. Bridge explains how the FFM opens up wind engineering research to many new questions, with many new possibilities for discovering how different wind profiles affect structures. Click here for a view of the flow field modulator (FFM). “What’s unique about our facility is the scale, these 319 fans, but it’s really the degrees of freedom that we have. There are just endless possibilities with what we can do, because of the number of fans, because of their flexibility and responsiveness. There’s just alot that we can do in this facility now that we weren’t able to do before.” -Jennifer Bridge Related links:
Listen to the podcast on the DesignSafe Radio website, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Interested in natural hazards research? Follow DesignSafe Radio on Facebook and Twitter. DesignSafe Radio highlights ways that NSF-supported research renders infrastructure and communities more resilient to natural hazards like earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and storm surge. The podcast is produced by NHERI, the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure, NSF award CMMI 1612144. Any statements in this material are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. | |||
| 21 May 2024 | Biogeotechnics: Engineers leverage, learn from nature featuring Alejandro Martínez | 00:12:00 | |
Geotechnical engineer Alejandro Martínez joins us to discuss a new and multidisciplinary engineering subfield called biogeotechnics. “Bioinspired” research examines and mimics ways that plants, animals and bacteria successfully interact with soil. For example: how tree roots successfully resist wind loads. “Biomediated” research uses biological elements to improve soil. For example, byproducts of certain bacteria can cement and desaturate soil — potentially preventing liquefaction in susceptible areas.
Read up on Professor Martínez’s research at UC Davis:
Follow Alejandro Martínez on X: @MartVAlejandro
Background info on Martínez’s snakeskin-inspired piles:
Using centrifugal force to study natural hazards at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlLTdPaOUFk
Follow the Center for Geotechnical Modeling on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Center-for-Geotechnical-Modeling/100063111107077/
Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research? Keywords: biocementation, biodesaturation, liquefaction, biogeotechnics, geotechnical engineering, ground improvement, soil improvement | |||
| 03 Aug 2021 | Student Researchers Make an Impact in NHERI Tsunami Engineering | 00:06:29 | |
Professor Mike Motley’s research team, Dakota Mascarenas, graduate student, and undergraduate Abbey Serrone, an undergraduate, traveled from University of Washington down to Oregon State to conduct a suite of tsunami-debris experiments in the facility’s large wave flume. The pair offer advice for engineering students who want to do hands-on research. They talk about working with the NHERI at OSU team and what it is like working on a (nearly) all-female research group. Related Links: | |||
| 06 Jul 2018 | Episode 46 David Prevatt (R) | 00:56:40 | |
Raised and schooled in the Caribbean island of Trinidad, from an early age David Prevatt was interested in science and structures. As an islander, he also grew up sailing and windsurfing. He recollects the exhilarating feeling of using wind power to skim the waves. He earned his bachelor’s in civil engineering from the University of the West Indies. After a stint as a civil engineer in Trinidad and Tobago, his curiosity and interest in research took him to Clemson University where he earned his master’s and PhD degrees in civil engineering.
Prevatt describes wind as a natural force, not a “disaster” in and of itself Disaster happens, he says, when we make buildings that are inadequately prepared to resist the wind. That is why he is grateful for the NHERI network. He sees tremendous value in having all types of natural hazards engineers working towards resilient communities.
The community is a force of its own, Prevatt explains. Communities in hazard-prone areas need to start making hard decisions. Should they build stronger? Or should they perhaps build in areas that are not prone to hazards like strong winds? Communities need to assess their risk tolerance.
He discusses his research on extreme wind hazards, hurricanes, in the Caribbean. Our human nature, he says, makes it difficult for us to be rational. We tend not to remember bad events in the past, or at least think the unfortunate event won’t happen in the near-term future.
In fact, Prevatt’s first research paper, written in the early 1990s, concluded that if Caribbean nations did not take steps to address their vulnerability to hurricane risk, hurricane disasters would happen again. Hurricane David destroyed Dominique. Monserrat was devastated by Hugo. Now, 25 years later, many billions have been spent on construction that did not take hurricanes under consideration, he says, so it is not surprising what has happened to these countries in recent storms, he says.
Prevatt discusses human biases that lead poor community decisions. As an engineer, he says accurate data on hazard risks is the best tool for convincing communities to manage their risks. But even with data provided by groups like FEMA -- $1 spent on hazard reduction provides six times the future benefit – he acknowledges that communities continue to spend on immediate things, not on long term preventive measures.
He explains how the market help could convince consumers that they should purchase a house that’s build stronger than the local code, one that will last longer and have an increased level of safety. It is a hard argument for countries in the developing world, he says. He wants people rebuilding in the Caribbean to ask questions from engineers and other experts – and get straight answers -- before they rebuild in the same unsafe ways.
In his reconnaissance trip to of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Prevatt describes seeing new construction going up that did not take future storm damage into account. There were engineering and economic questions that were not considered. He cites an example: new phone poles went in right were the old ones had been. Which means the new poles are just as likely to fail. Post disaster is the time to consider improvements, he says, such as redundancies and backups.
He proposes that island standards perhaps should be different than mainland standards – so they can be more self-sufficient after a disaster. Prevatt cites grim statistics: In Puerto Rico, 93% of the country’s GDP will be going to rebuilding efforts.
He discusses traditional building techniques in the Carribean. Roof-to-wall connections often fail, often due to large eaves, structural elements that provide shade. He discusses ways that the Carribean communities could become more resilient. A wind-resilient neighborhood is safer, and there is a market for that, he argues.
Such communities need to hold their leaders’ feet to the fire to make hard, long-term decisions.
Although Prevatt is generally optimistic, he quotes an ASCE engineer who studied tornado wind loads and proposed building tornado-resistant houses – in 1897.
As a researcher, he poses important philosophical questions about our seemingly irrational inability to apply important lessons that research offers. Nevertheless, Prevatt loves his work as a wind engineer. Given even a small chance that he might succeed in changing the state of affairs, he continues to research and provide data-driven advice. Indeed, he could help a lot. Plus, he says, he has fun.
As well as doing research, he teaches at the University of Florida. He loves guiding really smart students – who are the future of hazards engineering.
One of Prevatt’s most memorable natural disaster experiences was after tropical storm Fran, which caused considerable damage in Trinidad. On a reconnaissance mission, he visited a two-story house had that lost its roof. He remembers that the home owner was jovial at first, making jokes despite her problems. When he investigated, he discovered that although the roof had been designed to be bolted to the walls, the nuts and bolts were not there! The roof had never been properly attached. The discovery shocked and upset the owner – to learn that her damage was preventable. The incident has stuck with him. Prevatt says that he never forgets that the human cost of natural hazards goes beyond physical damage. | |||
| 10 Jan 2023 | NHERI Tallwood and its non-structural wall designs | 00:10:49 | |
In this episode, earthquake engineer and #NHERITallwood co-PI Keri Ryan gets specific about #NHERITallwood nonstructural components: non-loadbearing walls — elements extremely prone to earthquake drift and damage. Ryan shows us the cold-formed-steel exterior-wall subassemblies and some of the innovative building components that can prevent non-structural deformations due to ground shaking. CEMCO @CEMCO_steel Construction Specialities Group @csinconline Simpson StrongTie @strongtie Need to know more? Get the backstory on NHERI Tallwood: http://nheritallwood.mines.edu/ Follow the NHERI Tallwood project with the live video stream at UC San Diego: http://nheri.ucsd.edu/video/ Find Professor Keri Ryan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keri-ryan-29332399/ Twitter: @NHERI_UCSD @Unevadareno @UCSanDiego @UCSDJacobs @unrengineering, @NSF @slpei @commresilience @MinesCEE @coschoolofmines @CEMCO_steel @csinconline @strongtie #NHERITallwood #coldformedsteel #CFS #naturalhazards #resilience #NSFfunded #earthquakeEngineering #womeninengineering #NSFStories | |||
| 14 Nov 2024 | Improving the Cone Penetration Test Featuring Diane Moug. | 00:11:00 | |
The cone penetration test (CPT) is a standard tool for geotechnical engineers; it's used for measuring soil sheer strength, stress history and type. Leveraging her NSF CAREER award, Portland State U researcher Diane Moug plans to improve the CPT, so engineers can make better interpretations of CPT data. Moug will employ NHERI at UC Davis centrifuges, numerical modeling, and lab experimentation.
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| 27 Apr 2021 | Preparing Your Community for Storm Surge Damage | 00:10:41 | |
On today’s episode of DesignSafe Radio, we speak with Clint Dawson, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin that has 25 years of experience with coastal engineering and storm surge research. In this short episode, Dawson discusses types of damage caused by storm surge and ways to protect infrastructure & coastlines.
Check out the following links for more information: DesignSafe, ADCIRC Provides Storm Surge Simulators for Natural Hazards Community:
CERA – Coastal Emergency Risks Assessment: https://cera.coastalrisk.live/
Information on ADCIRC Software: http://adcirc.org/
Texas Advanced Computing Center: https://www.tacc.utexas.edu/
Clint Dawson Information: | |||
| 15 Mar 2022 | Brady Cox, University of Texas Mobile Shaker Facility - Part One | 00:06:56 | |
On today’s show, we get an intro to the mobile shaker fleet at the NHERI’s University of Texas facility. Host Dan Zehner meets up with geotechnical engineer Brady Cox, professor of engineering at Utah State University and co-PI at the NHERI @ University of Texas mobile shaker facility. Cox introduces the UTexas mobile shakers, huge vehicles that simulate a range of ground motions for studying earthquakes. There’s “T-Rex,” perhaps the world’s only shaker capable of generating large dynamic forces in any of three directions — vertical, horizontal in-line, and horizontal cross-line. And the custom-built “Liquidator,” weighing in at 70,000 pounds, which shakes vertically at very low frequencies; its longer waves help researchers look deeper into the ground. NHERI at UTexas website: https://utexas.designsafe-ci.org/ Short video shows how a shaker truck is used to characterize soil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cGbMggwxog More about Brady Cox’s research: https://engineering.usu.edu/cee/people/faculty/cox-brady | |||
| 14 Nov 2024 | Protecting liquefaction-prone soils in the PNW | 00:14:15 | |
Geotech engineer Diane Moug is an authority on microbially induced desaturation, known as “MID.” This technique, developed at Arizona State University, prevents soils from liquefying in an earthquake. Moug describes how microbes desaturate soils, the benefits of the process, and her own, ongoing experiments underway in the Pacific Northwest. These include a site in Oregon’s Critical Energy Infrastructure hub – which is dangerously situated on liquefiable soil.
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| 17 May 2022 | Protecting Valuable Equipment from Earthquake Damage- Scott Harvey | 00:10:01 | |
Protecting valuable equipment from earthquake damage Rolling base-isolation system keeps objects safe within data centers, hospitals, and museums. Scott Harvey, earthquake engineer from the University of Oklahoma, is developing a base-isolation system for protecting critical equipment and objects inside buildings: things such as data center computers, power systems, medical equipment -- even artworks. Harvey uses the multidirectional shake table at NHERI Lehigh experimental facility to test his base-isolator designs. #baseisolation #earthquakeengineering #rollingisolation #NHERILehigh #shaketable #NSFfunded Learn more: Harvey Research Group at the University of Oklahoma https://sites.google.com/view/HarveyResearchGroup/ Details on Harvey’s base isolation tests at NHERI Lehigh NHERI Lehigh experimental facility | |||
| 19 Apr 2022 | Brady Cox, University of Texas Mobile Shakers- Full Interview | 00:34:06 | |
Host Dan Zehner meets up with geotechnical engineer Brady Cox, professor of engineering at Utah State University and co-PI at the NHERI @ University of Texas mobile shaker facility. Cox introduces the UTexas mobile shakers, huge vehicles that simulate a range of ground motions for studying earthquakes. There’s “T-Rex,” perhaps the world’s only shaker capable of generating large dynamic forces in any of three directions — vertical, horizontal in-line, and horizontal cross-line. And the custom-built “Liquidator,” weighing in at 70,000 pounds, which shakes vertically at very low frequencies; its longer waves help researchers look deeper into the ground. Cox describes how engineers deploy the NHERI mobile shaker fleet around the world to study ground-based infrastructure like levees, soils that are prone to liquefaction, and civil structures like bridges. Natural hazards engineers at the University of Texas are using fiber optic cable for subsurface and structural sensing. It’s called distributed acoustic sensing, or DAS, and it is much more efficient than traditional geophones or accelerometers. By sending laser light pulses through fiber optic cables — which are ultra-sensitive to light deflections — researchers can measure ground disturbances for up to 30 meters. NHERI at UTexas website: https://utexas.designsafe-ci.org/ Short video shows how a shaker truck is used to characterize soil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cGbMggwxog More about Brady Cox’s research: https://engineering.usu.edu/cee/people/faculty/cox-brady Subsurface geotechnical imaging, as with levees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS-qn06pVOw&list=PL2GxvrdFrBlma1A6IMfMasP-RP8ku5s2N&index=1 Testing for liquefiable soils: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cGbMggwxog&list=PL2GxvrdFrBlma1A6IMfMasP-RP8ku5s2N&index=2 Structural health monitoring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRX-WMumpDQ&list=PL2GxvrdFrBlma1A6IMfMasP-RP8ku5s2N&index=3 NHERI at UTexas recently presented a workshop on DAS technology, including a live demonstration of a levee in Blackhawk, Louisiana. View the workshop recordings here. Interested in using NHERI Mobile Shakers in your work, or want to learn more? Contact us! | |||
| 17 Aug 2021 | NHERI SimCenter Inspires Future Research Engineers | 00:09:15 | |
In our second episode featuring REU students studying this summer at the NHERI SimCenter, DesignSafe Radio host Dan Zehner asks rising seniors Adithya, Claire, and Will about ther career plans. All three discuss ways that their experience working at the SimCenter has reinforced their plans to earn a master's or PhD degree and conduct more research. They agreed that their 10-week experience combined a powerful blend of mentoring in research protocols along with the freedom to investigate genuine engineering problems on their own. The NHERI SimCenter is the network's computational modeling and simulaiton hub based at UC Berkeley.
With encouraging words for the future undergrads applying to the REU program, the students said that prior research experience was not necessary. They were surprised that, despite their inexperience, the SimCenter team treated them like bonafide researchers and expected them to draw their own conclusions. Adithya, who is considering a PhD in engineering, said that the REU program has given him valuable proficiency as a researcher.
Related Links: NHERI REU Summer Program Information | |||
| 04 May 2021 | Storm Surge Simulations | 00:07:01 | |
On today’s episode of DesignSafeRadio, we speak with Clint Dawson, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin that has 25 years of experience with coastal engineering and storm surge research. In this short episode, Dawson discusses assessing model predictions and learning from hindcasting.
Check out the following links for more information: DesignSafe, ADCIRC Provides Storm Surge Simulators for Natural Hazards Community: CERA – Coastal Emergency Risks Assessment: https://cera.coastalrisk.live/ Information on ADCIRC Software: http://adcirc.org/ Texas Advanced Computing Center: https://www.tacc.utexas.edu/ Clint Dawson Information: | |||
| 22 Jan 2025 | Brian Phillips intros the Sentinel mobile weather station | 00:08:18 | |
University of Florida engineer Brian Phillips updates us on NSF-funded efforts to capture vital data during landfalling hurricanes. For decades, UF researchers have deployed mobile weather stations. Now, Phillips describes the newly designed Sentinel weather station. The 33 feet tall tower, anchored 20 feet into the shoreline, can withstand a Category 5 hurricane, including 16-foot surge and breaking waves. During Hurricane Helene, the Sentinel gathered data on wind speeds, surge, and the water’s chemical and biological constituency. | |||
| 20 Apr 2018 | Episode 37 Society and Wind Engineering with David Prevatt | 00:56:59 | |
David Prevatt, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida
Raised and schooled in the Caribbean island of Trinidad, from an early age David Prevatt was interested in science and structures. As an islander, he also grew up sailing and windsurfing. He recollects the exhilarating feeling of using wind power to skim the waves. He earned his bachelor’s in civil engineering from the University of the West Indies. After a stint as a civil engineer in Trinidad and Tobago, his curiosity and interest in research took him to Clemson University where he earned his master’s and PhD degrees in civil engineering.
Prevatt describes wind as a natural force, not a “disaster” in and of itself Disaster happens, he says, when we make buildings that are inadequately prepared to resist the wind. That is why he is grateful for the NHERI network. He sees tremendous value in having all types of natural hazards engineers working towards resilient communities.
The community is a force of its own, Prevatt explains. Communities in hazard-prone areas need to start making hard decisions. Should they build stronger? Or should they perhaps build in areas that are not prone to hazards like strong winds? Communities need to assess their risk tolerance.
He discusses his research on extreme wind hazards, hurricanes, in the Caribbean. Our human nature, he says, makes it difficult for us to be rational. We tend not to remember bad events in the past, or at least think the unfortunate event won’t happen in the near-term future.
In fact, Prevatt’s first research paper, written in the early 1990s, concluded that if Caribbean nations did not take steps to address their vulnerability to hurricane risk, hurricane disasters would happen again. Hurricane David destroyed Dominique. Monserrat was devastated by Hugo. Now, 25 years later, many billions have been spent on construction that did not take hurricanes under consideration, he says, so it is not surprising what has happened to these countries in recent storms, he says.
Prevatt discusses human biases that lead poor community decisions. As an engineer, he says accurate data on hazard risks is the best tool for convincing communities to manage their risks. But even with data provided by groups like FEMA -- $1 spent on hazard reduction provides six times the future benefit – he acknowledges that communities continue to spend on immediate things, not on long term preventive measures.
He explains how the market help could convince consumers that they should purchase a house that’s build stronger than the local code, one that will last longer and have an increased level of safety. It is a hard argument for countries in the developing world, he says. He wants people rebuilding in the Caribbean to ask questions from engineers and other experts – and get straight answers -- before they rebuild in the same unsafe ways.
In his reconnaissance trip to of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Prevatt describes seeing new construction going up that did not take future storm damage into account. There were engineering and economic questions that were not considered. He cites an example: new phone poles went in right were the old ones had been. Which means the new poles are just as likely to fail. Post disaster is the time to consider improvements, he says, such as redundancies and backups.
He proposes that island standards perhaps should be different than mainland standards – so they can be more self-sufficient after a disaster. Prevatt cites grim statistics: In Puerto Rico, 93% of the country’s GDP will be going to rebuilding efforts.
He discusses traditional building techniques in the Carribean. Roof-to-wall connections often fail, often due to large eaves, structural elements that provide shade. He discusses ways that the Carribean communities could become more resilient. A wind-resilient neighborhood is safer, and there is a market for that, he argues.
Such communities need to hold their leaders’ feet to the fire to make hard, long-term decisions.
Although Prevatt is generally optimistic, he quotes an ASCE engineer who studied tornado wind loads and proposed building tornado-resistant houses – in 1897.
As a researcher, he poses important philosophical questions about our seemingly irrational inability to apply important lessons that research offers. Nevertheless, Prevatt loves his work as a wind engineer. Given even a small chance that he might succeed in changing the state of affairs, he continues to research and provide data-driven advice. Indeed, he could help a lot. Plus, he says, he has fun.
As well as doing research, he teaches at the University of Florida. He loves guiding really smart students – who are the future of hazards engineering.
One of Prevatt’s most memorable natural disaster experiences was after tropical storm Fran, which caused considerable damage in Trinidad. On a reconnaissance mission, he visited a two-story house had that lost its roof. He remembers that the home owner was jovial at first, making jokes despite her problems. When he investigated, he discovered that although the roof had been designed to be bolted to the walls, the nuts and bolts were not there! The roof had never been properly attached. The discovery shocked and upset the owner – to learn that her damage was preventable. The incident has stuck with him. Prevatt says that he never forgets that the human cost of natural hazards goes beyond physical damage. | |||
