Research

Research Goals:

Enhancing the resilience of the built environment against severe wind events.
Characterization of near-surface characteristics of extreme wind conditions.
Accurate simulation of synoptic and transient wind events using physical experiments and numerical modeling.
Integration of experimental methods, computational simulations, and field observations to bridge the gap between atmospheric science and engineering.

Some ongoing projects

Jordana Experimental Range, Las Cruses, NM

Obtaining "full-scale" pressure, velocity, and loading data from the field at high spatial and temporal resolution for ABL and Vortex-based flow systems

The TTU-AIR group is working in collaboration with the WERL team at UIUC to gather full-scale data on pressure, velocity, and aerodynamic loads in atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and vortex-dominated flow environments. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time velocity measurements at such high spatial resolution have been recorded around an instrumented structure (cube). For ABL-type flows, the outcomes of this research could significantly benefit the wind hazards community by helping to establish a clearer connection between incoming gusts and peak structural loading. Additionally, this dataset offers valuable potential for validating results from CFD simulations and wind tunnel studies.

Reese Field Site, Lubbock, TX

louver_tech (online-video-cutter.com).mp4

Advancing vortex generation in straight line wind tunnels using LES

Our research group is exploring various techniques to generate Tornado like vortices (TLV) in a straight line wind tunnel. Our ongoing study is to utilize moving louvers/blades to generate and control the vortex features. We are applying Arbitrary Mesh Interface (AMI) technique to simulate the moving louvers in the CFD setting. As the AMI moving mesh method is computationally expensive, we are utilizing TTU HPCC to run various cases of this simulation.

Multi_structure.mp4

Interaction of transient winds with sub-urban neighborhoods using LES informed by field data

This project focuses on exploring how structures interact with transient wind features using numerical simulations. At present, the approach is being tested on a simplified, isolated building model (1:20 scale WERFL) and a neighborhood containing the identical buildings under a realistic tornado-like vortex (TLV). The research will later expand to examine how a moving vortex affects a full neighborhood setup. The attractive component is we are planning to customize the LES inflow based on field observations from hurricane and thunderstorm field deployments.

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