Facility Overview

The University of Florida (UF) NHERI Experimental Facility (EF) provides users access to one of the largest and most diverse suite of wind engineering experimental research infrastructure in the world. Our goals is to broadly support transformative wind hazard research that:

  • Reduces uncertainties in the wind loading chain, especially those related to predicting peak loads and structural response
  • Advances computational wind engineering and reduce our reliance on physical testing
  • Develops methodologies that reliably predict performance as a function of building age and use
  • Advances the state of knowledge regarding collapse limit state fragilities
  • Advances automation and design of hazard resistant infrastructure
  • Introduces high-performance and greener materials
  • Creates innovative and cost-effective solutions to retrofit existing infrastructure

Located in the Powell Family Structures and Materials Laboratory (travel directions), the NHERI UF EF enables investigators to characterize loading on and dynamic response of a wide range of infrastructure in a large, reconfigurable boundary layer wind tunnel (BLWT) and conduct full-scale tests on large building systems with equipment capable of ultimate/collapse loads associated with a Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale Category 5 hurricane or an Enhanced Fujita Scale 5 tornado.