Huge Wind Machine

University of Florida wind engineering researcher Forrest Masters stands on a newly completed, fully portable hurricane wind simulator on May 29, 2007. Mounted on a trailer, the industrial-sized simulator is composed of eight 5-foot-high industrial fans powered by four marine engines that collectively produce 2,800 horsepower. It is designed to blast vacant homes with winds of up to 130 mph – Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale — and high-pressure water jets that mimic torrential wind-driven rain. The goal is to learn more about how hurricanes damage real homes — and how to modify them to best prevent that damage.

(Kristen Bartlett Grace/University of Florida)
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