High school students put their buildings to the test in Wall of Wind contest


WHAT: Ten teams of Miami-Dade and Broward high school students who have designed ways to reduce the impact of hurricane force winds on a tall building’s foundation will see how their model structures hold up against a Wall of Wind during the 2011 Wall of Wind Mitigation Challenge at the FIU International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC).

Each team will describe their hurricane wind mitigation ideas to a panel of judges in 10 minutes or less. Those judges include Rick Knabb from The Weather Channel and other experts in wind engineering, meteorology and emergency management.  The wind engineering judges will test the 24 inch-tall building models using the electric two-fan wind machine – capable of generating winds up to 75 miles per hour – at the Wall of Wind Research Facility. The tall building models represent a slender 32-story tall building.

The students’ innovations could help make homes more hurricane resistant, resulting in less property damage during hurricanes and lower insurance costs.

First prize is a $500 donation to the winning team’s school, $500 in Best Buy gift cards and a trophy.

The contest is supported by a grant from the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

WHO: The International Hurricane Research Center is a multidisciplinary center focused on the mitigation of hurricane damage to people, their property and the built and natural environments.  To adequately assess these diverse yet related topics, the Center is comprised of four research laboratories: the Laboratory for Coastal Research, the Laboratory for Social Science Research, the Laboratory for Insurance, Financial & Economic Research and the Laboratory for Wind Engineering Research.

WHEN: Saturday, May 21, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Testing of the projects will take place from 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

WHERE: Florida International University’s Engineering Center, 10555 West Flagler Street, located on the corner of Flagler Street and Southwest 107th Avenue.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:  Call Erik Salna at 305-348-1146.

Media Contact: Maydel Santana-Bravo at 305-348-1555.

Comments are closed.