This has been a crazy year for wind events in the US and it’s not even May.
Figure 1 from NOAA says it all:
Our members continue to be active in research and practice using a variety of approaches.
A good example is former AAWE president, Prof. Partha Sarkar of Iowa State University. Sarkar is Director of the National Testing Facility for Enhancing Wind Resiliency of Infrastructure in Tornado-Downburst- Gust Front Events, or NEWRITE project. Already two years have gone by in this enormous undertaking of designing a large tornado simulation and testing facility. Many of you have experienced Partha’s smaller tornado-microburst simulator. The initial prototype simulator, if selected for construction, be about a 1/20th-scale model of the full-scale NEWRITE but will have the capacity to generate 225 mph tornado-like winds. The knowledge base for physical and numerical simulations will be significantly expanded.
There has been a growth over the past several years of in-situ data collection for hurricanes, tornadoes and other severe weather, resulting in greatly needed databases, combining work from many university- based researchers and US governmental agencies such as NOAA. Since large datasets are needed for many AI/ML investigations, this explosion in data is a very welcome development.
Speaking of data science, have you made your reservations for the 15ACWE in St. Louis, Missouri?
Prof. Grace Yan has been working hard to set up this meeting. I’m sure it will be a great experience, providing a broad overview of wind engineering. I hope to see all of there!
With best wishes,
Dorothy