CIES SEMINAR - Dr. GRACE YAN
Thursday, November 14, 2019
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
124 Butler-Carlton (Civil Engineering) Hall
PRESENTER: DR. Grace Yan
ASSistant professor, DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, architectural and environmental ENGINEERING
Topic: "WHAM Research: Tame Winds to Achieve Community Resilience"
Abstract: Extreme winds, such as tornadoes and hurricanes, have induced substantial structural damage, injuries and deaths in the USA. Tornadoes occur in Mainland America, mainly “Tornado Alley”, and they contribute $10B annually to the nation’s loss portfolio; Hurricanes occur in coastal areas, and the government costs for hurricane damage are $28 billion a year. The mission of our WHAM lab is to tame winds to achieve community resilience.
This talk will present you how we have been fulfilling this mission by conducting the following cutting-edge research:
1) Investigate the wind effects of tornadoes and hurricanes on civil structures by simulating these wind fields using CFD simulations and using wind tunnel or tornado simulators;
2) Reveal failure mechanisms of civil structures under extreme winds by conducting nonlinear, dynamic structural analyses;
3) Reproduce the damage scenarios observed in real-world wind disasters using numerical simulations and validate it using the data collected in our reconnaissance surveys;
4) Develop virtual reality animation of wind disasters to provide the public personal “experience” of tornadoes and hurricanes, which will enable the public to make an optimal decision on whether to take proactive measures to better protect themselves;
5) Develop Community Resilience Bonds to achieve a quicker community recovery after hurricanes through comprehensive planning and investment prior to disasters.