CAREER: Behavior of Hurricane Wind and Wind-Driven Rain in the Coastal Suburban Roughness Sublayer

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The research objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program project is to define the tropical cyclone surface wind field, wind-driven rain characteristics and wind loading in the built environment. The goal is to determine how localized, coherent features occurring in the rough-wall turbulent boundary layer and larger-scale convective features (such as meso-vortices, rainband core downdrafts) influence the surface wind field characteristics and loading on low-rise structures. The project will utilize the instrumented towers managed by Florida Coastal Monitoring Program. The towers will be retrofitted to collect turbulence and wind-driven profile measurements and will be deployed in coastal suburban communities where the most damaging winds are expected to occur. These observational towers will be located inside mobile Doppler radar networks that are deployed by the Digital Hurricane Consortium to determine if convective features aloft modulate the ground level wind structure. The wind field data will be coupled with pressure measurements on single-family homes to directly relate the peak load conditions to the full spectrum of the wind effects.The project addresses the important issue of the interaction of hurricane induced winds with engineered structures. The project will provide important data for wind tunnel and computational modeling, evaluation of the existing provisions in building codes and standards, cost effective damage mitigation measures, and resilient design of structures. The project will also strengthen interactions between the wind engineering and atmospheric science disciplines. The project will provide advanced training to graduate and undergraduate students through their direct involvement in the project work. Middle school teachers from under-resourced schools located in hurricane-prone areas will participate in a pilot initiative called the Hurricane Hazard Immersion Program. This program is expected to enhance the 6-8th grade curriculum of over 7500 students living along the hurricane prone coast through annual training and active participation of 25 middle school teachers in the project research. The program is designed to be sustainable beyond the project duration; it will target underrepresented groups and foster a culture of hazard preparedness and proactive mitigation among the next generation of homeowners.