GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida is leading the way in hurricane research and Monday it unveiled the new components that are helping the school do it.
The Powell Family Structures and Materials laboratory at UF received a $62 million grant to do the research.
Research assistant scientist Ryan Catarelli said they received the grant from the National Science Foundation to research how natural hazards like high winds particularly hurricanes impact structures.
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“It allows you to run experiments that are novel. You can kind of go into new areas. The real intent is testing a model scale that allows us to predict the wind loads. In particular, that’s what we’re really interested in,” Catarelli said.
Dawn Tillbury, who’s the assistant director for engineering at NSF, said they chose UF for the grant because they felt its research models would have a significant impact on society.
“We look at both the intellectual merritt how is this project going to advance the frontiers of science and engineering,” Tillbury said.
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What they’re learning through this research while simulating hurricanes will be able to help people build stronger houses and buildings.
“Houses that are better able to repel the forces of hurricanes both the winds and the water that are coming in. So that in the future houses and buildings that are built will be safer for people both for their livelihood and for their businesses," Catarelli said the research tool they’ve built is the first of its kind and they’re hoping the new technology can be a model for generations in the future. “To the best of my knowledge there are no other systems that do this. We’re really trying to innovative and move the field forward like bring it into the 21st century. We’re really looking at automation in all of our systems and we’re looking at speeding up research."