Hurricane Florence Special 2 - Wind Engineer Frank Lombardo
Frank Lombardo Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Wind Engineering Research Laboratory University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign \xa0 On the cusp of Hurricane Florence, host Dan Zehner was lucky enough to meet up with wind engineer Frank Lombardo. Based at the University of Illinois, Lombardo studies extreme wind events and and their effects on structures. \xa0 Lombardo says he has always been interested in weather. As a college student, he briefly considered atmospheric science, but went into civil engineering. When looking at graduate programs, the multidisciplinary PhD program in wind science and engineering at Texas Tech appealed to him. He completed his PhD there in 2009 and was hired on faculty as a hazards engineer at U of I. \xa0 He describes his focus: wind engineering and extreme events: thunderstorms, tornados and hurricanes. He says the scientific community doesn\u2019t know a lot about how thunder storms and tornados and affect buildings. Considered annually, the majority of wind-related losses in the U.S. tend to be from tornados and thunderstorms. \xa0 Currently, building codes don\u2019t consider how thunderstorm and tornado loads affect structures, he says. He is part of an ASCE working group collects data on storms so engineers can mitigate for them in the future. \xa0 Lombardo and Zehner discuss the differences between hurricanes and other wind storms. Hurricanes are easier to sample, he says. You have advance notice and the winds are large scales. Thunderstorm and tornado winds are smaller scale, and so harder to capture. Part of his work is developing new instruments to capture tornadic and thunderstorm winds. Wind engineers need sturdy, accurate instrumentation, he says, which means they collaborate frequently with Industrial and electrical engineers. \xa0 Solutions are inherently multidisciplinary, Lombardo says. \xa0 He discusses his newly created measurement tool, a \u201cwind loading cube,\u201d which is a four-foot cube. Lombardo and his team are testing out the novel device in Hurricane Florence. \xa0 He discusses the way he designs projects: get full scale data, try to replicate it in wind tunnels \u2013 which will, with luck, lead to strategies for damage mitigation. \xa0 The cube is heavy and anchored to the ground. It will measure wind loads on the cube. During the upcoming storm Florence, he plans to deploy in the Wilmington, NC, with University of Florida wind engineer Forrest Masters, who will be here with his wind measurement towers. \xa0 Lombardo\u2019s research mission to Wilmington is part of the Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance, or StEER, network, which (among other things) coordinates official event responses. Deploying during a storm to collect perishable data is an integrated effort, Lombardo says. \xa0He discusses the importance of post storm surveys. \xa0 Overall in his research, he hopes to determine factors responsible for damage to structures. Many variables come into play, he says. Not just wind, but there is terrain, structural aerodynamics, and the structure itself. Has it been \u201chardened\u201d for a storm? All the factors combine to determine factors that cause damage. \xa0 He discusses new ways for determining tornado and thunderstorm wind strength. After storms, intensity is determined by damage, not wind speed. Lombardo is examining things like tree fall patterns and vortex patterns to estimate speed of winds. \xa0 As part of the ASCE committee on wind storms, he knows that the ASCE\u2019s 2022 building codes will include tornado design. His committee hopes to build wind speeds into code \u2013 although other factors are key, such as atmospheric pressure, rotation load, upward winds and debris.\xa0 \xa0 Practical measures are important, Lombardo says. He says one way to protect your home from severe winds is to reinforce your garage doors. For roofs, you could even use hurricane straps. In his lab, he\u2019s exploring devices for protecting home roofs, which are vulnerable in wind storms. \xa0 Lastly, Lombardo and Zehner discuss predictions for Hurricane Florence wind and storm surge. Follow Lombardo and his research team on Twitter: @windlaboratory.