[Announce] NHERI SimCenter 5/17 Webinar Announcement

[announce at designsafe-ci.org]

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Experimental Research in Natural Hazards Engineering (NHE)”is a webinar
series highlighting experimental research that advances engineering for
natural hazards. Experimental research provides understanding of physical
behavior as well as data for calibration and validation of numerical models
and computational methods. Experimental research is often enabled and
supported by high performance computing and numerical simulation. This
webinar track will include information about the motivation for the study,
research method, simulation tools employed in the effort, research results,
and impact of the research effort.  All are welcome to participate.

*NHERI SimCenter – Experimental Research in NHE*
Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 12pm – 1:15pm (PDT)

*Exploring Wind Engineering with Profs. Ioannis Zisis, Arindam Gan
Chowdhury, and Peter Irwin (Florida International University) *



*REGISTER* for this webinar at
https://www.designsafe-ci.org/learning-center/webinar-170517/

Connection information will be distributed upon receipt of registration.



*ABSTRACT*: Wind-induced effects on buildings and infrastructure located in
coastal areas of USA and around the globe have caused damages worth
billions of dollars. To develop wind damage mitigation techniques and carry
out research on various topics of wind engineering, a state-of-the-art
large-scale experimental facility -- the Wall of Wind (WOW) -- was
developed at Florida International University (FIU), Miami, USA. The WOW
has been designated as an “Experimental Facility” (EF) under the Natural
Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) program of National
Science Foundation (NSF). The WOW EF includes a 12-fan boundary layer wind
tunnel that can generate wind speeds of 157 mph (70 m/s) equivalent to a
Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. This facility has been
used for various applications that include: assessing wind loads on
buildings, bridges and traffic signals; simulating wind-driven rain (WDR)
intrusion in buildings; and assessing the capability of a building or its
components to withstand high wind speeds. The objective of the WOW EF as
part of the NHERI program is to enable an external, broadly inclusive user
base to undertake fundamental research in aerodynamics, fluid mechanics,
wind-induced vibrations, aero-elastic instabilities, stochastic processes,
fragility of building systems, rain infiltration mechanisms, wind
simulation methodology and non-linear structural behaviour under wind
loading. The WOW EF can be a very useful test bed for developing and
validating Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and other numerical
simulation methods, thereby reducing the future reliance on physical
testing, and for developing mitigation methods. This webinar describes the
capabilities, uniqueness, and resources at the WOW EF. Case studies will be
presented pertaining to the estimation of wind loads on various buildings
and infrastructure systems. The development and validation of a new Partial
Turbulence Simulation (PTS) technique for testing large-scale models will
be discussed.

*PRESENTERS*:

Dr. Ioannis Zisis joined the FIU Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department in 2012 as Assistant Professor and member of the IHRC Laboratory
for Wind Engineering Research and Wall of Wind research group.  Dr. Zisis
has been studying wind effects on the built environment for over 10 years.
His research focus is structural and environmental wind engineering. He has
been using advanced experimental methods, including wind tunnel and
full-scale monitoring techniques, to examine how residential and other
structures react to extreme wind events. The outcomes of his research
efforts are aiming at the development and improvement of national and
international wind standards and building codes of practice. Dr. Zisis has
over 50 publications in international journals and conference proceedings
and he is a member of the Structural Wind Engineering Committee (SWEC) and
Environmental Wind Engineering Committee (EWEC) of the Technical Council on
Wind Engineering and the American Society of Civil Engineers (TCWE-ASCE).
Dr. Zisis has received funding from several state and national agencies
including the Florida Sea Grant College Program, the Florida Department of
Transportation, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the
Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. He is also the co-PI of the NSF
NHERI Wall of Wind Experimental Facility. Dr. Zisis obtained his M.A.Sc.
and Ph.D. in Building Engineering from Concordia University (Canada). He
also holds a Dipl.-Ing in Civil Engineering from Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki (Greece).

Dr. Arindam Gan Chowdhury is Associate Professor at FIU’s Department of
Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Laboratory for Wind
Engineering Research at FIU’s International Hurricane Research Center
(Miami, Florida). He is the PI and Director of the NHERI Wall of Wind (WOW)
Experimental Facility funded by the NSF. Under Dr. Chowdhury’s direction,
the WOW research team has had a significant impact in mitigating hurricane
damage by enhancing building codes, validating innovative mitigation
technologies and developing new materials. Dr. Chowdhury is the recipient
of a Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award from the
National Science Foundation and a Research to Application Award from the
Florida Sea Grant Program. FIU honored Dr. Chowdhury by naming him a Top
Scholar, granting him a Service and Recognition award, and lauding him with
the President’s Council Worlds Ahead Faculty Award, which is the
university’s highest recognition for faculty members.

Dr. Peter Irwin has been Professor of Practice at the Wall of Wind Facility
of Florida International University (FIU) since 2012.  His work in the
field of wind engineering began at Canada’s National Research Council (NRC)
in 1974 where he undertook research in the wind loading and response of
long span bridges, tall buildings and large span roofs using NRC’s wind
tunnel facilities.  At NRC he developed what is now known as the Irwin
sensor for measuring near surface wind speeds.  The sensor is used my many
laboratories around the world. In 1980 he went into consulting with the
then small private firm that is now known as RWDI (standing for Rowan
Williams Davies and Irwin Inc.).  Dr. Irwin was president of RWDI from 1999
to 2008 and under his leadership the company grew to threefold to become a
400 person international consulting and wind tunnel testing firm
specializing in wind engineering, building science and environmental
engineering.  Dr. Irwin led RWDI’s work on many major structures including
the world’s tallest buildings: Burj Khalifa in Dubai at 828 m; the Shanghai
Tower at 632 m; and Taipei 101 at 508 m.  He also undertook pioneering work
on many long span bridges and large retractable-roof stadium structures.
At FIU he has focused on applying wind tunnel testing to smaller structures
and has developed the Partial Turbulence Simulation method for these
structures so that they can be tested at the large model scales needed for
accurate simulation.  Dr. Irwin has been very active on code committees and
his research and consulting contributions have been recognized by many
prestigious awards including the ASCE’s Cermak medal, the IAWE’s Davenport
Award, the CTBUH’s Fazlur Khan Award, and the CSCE’s Gzowski Medal.  He is
Co-PI on FIU’s NSF NHERI Wall of Wind Facility.
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