Services provided include:
As an member of the NHERI network, the Wall of Wind is available for the academic study of all types of wind or wind related studies, including such diverse topics as: aerodynamics, fluid mechanics, wind-induced vibrations, aeroelastic instabilities, stochastic processes, structural reliability and fragility, rain infiltration, aerodynamic hybrid simulation, and non-linear structural behavior under wind loading.
The Wall of Wind is available for commercial clients to conduct wind load testing for new product development. The facility provides wind testing services only and does not nor cannot offer any kind of certification or endorsement.
The Wall of Wind can conduct wind testing for local, state, or federal government agencies tasked with improving community resilience and reduce or mitigating wind hazards to public infrastructure. Past government clients include FDOT, FDEM, OIR, Florida SeaGrant, & FEMA.
The WHIP Center is an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC), sponsored by the National Science Foundation, to pursue research of interest to industry and government agencies to enhance the resiliency of buildings and infrastructure to extreme windstorms such as hurricanes and tornadoes.
NHERI Wall of Wind Experimental Facility Data Management Plan
This Data Management Plan (DMP) describes the general policy for generation, descriptions, access, redistribution, and retention of data created in the use of the NHERI Wall of Wind (WOW) Experimental Facility (EF) for NSF funded projects.
NHERI Wall of Wind Experimental Facility Safety Plan
Health and Safety of students, faculty, staff, visitors and users is of the utmost importance at FIU and the Wall of Wind (WOW) Experimental Facility. Making safety an inherent part of the work day and culture is vital for maintaining a safe working environment.
Potential multidisciplinary collaborators for your NSF proposal
Aiming at fostering multidisciplinary collaboration among scientists for broadly inclusive research, the NHERI WOW EF team has communicated with several wind engineering faculty and established a new platform on DesignSafe-CI website that includes a referral database of Wind Engineering experts across the U.S. This helps EF users to find research collaborators in the field of wind engineering and wind tunnel testing. The platform provides contact information and research interests for the wind hazard researchers who are willing to contribute, as collaborators, to NSF proposals being submitted by potential EF users who propose utilization of the NHERI experimental facilities.
The NHERI Wall of Wind (WOW) EF team has developed a procedure that allows integration of payload projects in main NHERI WOW EF projects. This procedure effectively communicates the specific requirements for wind engineering projects as well as the unique specifications of the NHERI WOW EF and its instrumentation.
The NHERI WOW EF has also developed a questionnaire that potential payload project users complete before they proceed with their proposal submission to NSF. This Payload Project Questionnaire will serve as the contact form between the payload project principal investigator (PI) and the main NSF project PI (if no contact has been established yet). The payload project procedure is facilitated through various protocols as follows:
Schedule of Upcoming Projects
The NHERI WOW EF, in coordination with NCO, will create a calendar of scheduled projects which will be available at the DesignSafe-CI website. For each of the main NHERI WOW EF projects, the following information will be included: scope of work, anticipated timeline, overview of the testing apparatus, model characteristics, instrumentation, and testing protocol (e.g. sensors, wind speeds, wind directions, etc.).
Payload Project Technical Information
The payload project proposer will need to furnish the following information to the main NSF project PI and the NHERI WOW EF team: scope of work summary, safety plan covering all safety concerns and mitigation methods, testing objectives, specification of required instrumentation, data acquisition settings for each group of sensors, testing protocol, and testing configurations. This will help the payload proposer to gain technical approval of the project.
EF Fee Schedule
The fee schedule for payload projects is defined in the NHERI WOW EF Usage Rates section. The NHERI WOW EF requires that all users pay established recharge center rates to cover costs not supported by the NSF NHERI award. The payload project PI will sign a facility Service Agreement highlighting any additional facility costs and added scope of work to the already funded main NSF project.
Available Payload Area
For wind engineering applications, the concept of payload area is differently defined from the existing seismic payload projects. Altering the main projects test model geometry, structural system or surroundings may conflict with the objectives of the main project. Therefore, the concept of available payload area should be described by the main NSF project PI (in the Service Agreement) as availability for non-interfering model modifications or an addition of instrumentation. The payload project PI will need to mention any need for significant modifications in the NHERI WOW EF Payload Questionnaire and discuss the feasibility of its research concept with the main NSF project PI.
Payload Project Timeline
In conjunction with the main NSF project PI and the NCO, the NHERI WOW EF will develop a timeline for each NSF funded user project which will include the plan of activities with regards to the model construction, instrumentation installation, and testing dates. For each of these activities there will be a cutoff date after which payload requests may not be possible to be accommodated. As far as the payload project is concerned, the NCO, in coordination with the NHERI WOW EF, will provide a detailed list of milestones and dates that will serve as a guide to the payload project PI during the payload proposal preparation.
Intellectual Property Policy
The NCO and CI will develop an Intellectual Property Policy which will be requested to be signed by the EF Users (i.e. main NSF funded project PI and payload project proposer).