FACILITIES

TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

National Wind Institute at TTU
Reese Technology Center at TTU for field measurements and laboratory studies

COMPUTING FACILITY
High performance computing facility on campus

Ka-Band mobile radar

KA-BAND MOBILE RADAR
Ka-band mobile radar on trucks

 

VorTech Tornado Simulator

VORTECH FACILITY
The VorTECH Tornado Simulator

 

Wind Tunnel

WIND TUNNEL
The boundary layer wind tunnel

West Texas Mesonet

WEST TEXAS MESONET
The West Texas Mesonet

Debris Impact Facility

DEBRIS IMPACT FACILITY
Debris Impact Facility (DIF)

 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

NSF NHERI Wall of Wind (WOW)
Experimental Facility (EF) for full- and large-scale testing

  • Up to Category 5 Hurricane Wind simulations
  • Multi-Scale Testing (full-, large-, small-scale)
  • Destructive Testing (to predict progressive failures in buildings and infrastructure elements)
  • Wind-Driven Rain simulations (to study water intrusion)
  • Non-synoptic downburst wind flow facility Automated roughness system
  • Automated 3-axis traverse system
  • Three component particle-image velocimetry (PIV) system and other state of the art pressure and load monitoring equipment
Wall of Wind

TEST MODEL
Testing in the WOW

Test Model

TEST MODEL
Model under test

Robotic Arm

WALL OF WIND
The building, operations, and control center

Test Model

TEST MODEL
Testing in the WOW

Test model of a high set building

TEST MODEL OF A HIGH-SET MODEL
Testing a high-set building model in the WOW

FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

WIND & HURRICANE IMPACT RESEARCH LABORATORY (WHIRL)

 

WHIRL
  • Hurricane risk modeling (Florida Public Hurricane and Flood Loss Models)
  • Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) System for field monitoring of hurricane pressures on buildings
  • Portable Zephir300 Lidar system from Campbell Scientific for near-surface wind profile characterization
  • Coastal Processes Research Group, including a coastal wave/weather/tide station at Sebastian Inlet, FL
  • Indian River Lagoon Research Institute,including:
    Indian River Lagoon set-up/surge forecast product
    Three wave capable Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler in the Banana River
  • Online circulation and wave modeling system and ensemble surge and wave modeling system for the Florida east coast
  • Hurricane post-disaster reconnaissance missions