Walter Conklin Scholarship Fund

Walter Conklin, respected colleague and beloved friend, passed away in October 2024. Join fellow colleagues and supporters of FIU’s Wall of Wind Experimental Facility in raising funds for the establishment of the Walter Conklin Scholarship Fund. Read more about his life and donate to the scholarship.

NHERI Wall of Wind Experimental Facility

The NHERI Wall of Wind (WOW) Experimental Facility (EF) at Florida International University (FIU) was funded by NSF to be a national facility that enables researchers to better understand wind effects on civil infrastructure systems and to prevent wind hazards from becoming community disasters.

Building the Wall of Wind

About WOW

The NHERI WOW EF is powered by a combined 12-fan system capable of repeatable testing in up to 157 mph wind speeds through its flow management system. The unique advantage of the NHERI WOW EF is multi-scale (full-scale to 1:400) and high Reynolds number simulation of the effects of wind and wind-driven rain. This is accomplished using the twelve fans and a water spray system.

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Wall of Wind Workshops

The Wall of Wind hosts biannual workshops. Learn more about upcoming opportunities, past events, and how to livestream facility experiments.

NHERI WOW EF Resources

  1. 16,000 sqft. fenced-off secure area for wind testing.
  2. WOW apparatus (with 14 ft. high x 20 ft. wide test section), rain generation system, flow conditioning spires and roughness for atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) simulation, two Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) to control 12 WOW fans, 16 ft. diameter turntable, data acquisition (DAQ) system, video capture and surveillance system (all housed in a 8,000 sqft. WOW building).
  3. 3,000 sqft. pre-test specimen staging/construction/instrumentation (SCI) building with a fabrication shop and a small-scale boundary layer wind tunnel?.
  4. 1,344 sqft. air conditioned Operations and Control Center (OCC) for controlling, monitoring, viewing the tests, and providing telepresence.
  5. 1:15 small-scale WOW.
  6. Downburst Simulator.

NHERI WOW EF Testimonials