MIAMI, Fl – As a part of his Prepare Florida initiative, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis toured the Wall of Wind at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami today to urge Floridians to prepare for disasters now before the next hurricane takes aim at Florida. Experts have predicted an active 2019 Hurricane Season with the possibility of up to four major hurricanes.
 
CFO Jimmy Patronis said, "I was literally blown away by an amazing tour of FIU's Wall of Wind. This facility allows researchers to conduct vital studies of hurricane winds, helping us create more resilient communities. Thank you President Rosenberg and Director Chowdhury for your hospitality and the incredible work you all do."
 
Current research at Florida International University is enabling testing of entire structures at full-scale, leading to performance-based design for hurricanes through direct correlation of wind speed with performance and damage levels.
 
To perform hurricane mitigation research, the wind engineering team at the International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC) and College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) at FIU has built a full-scale “Wall of Wind (WoW) facility”. The WoW is viewed as being potentially as effective for wind engineering as crash testing, which led to the development of air bags and other safety features, was for the automobile industry. Engineers liken the WoW to shake table testing, which led to performance-based earthquake engineering.
 
For more information about the Wall of Wind, please click here.