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Research
Clemson Researcher, Students
Share Hurricane Data
 David
Prevatt runs the wind load test facility at Clemson University,
where he and a team of researchers are discovering just how hurricanes
destroy homes. The assistant professor of civil engineering knows
his research won’t carry value unless it reaches the people
who need it most — those living in coastal communities and
the emergency management personnel helping them.
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Dr. David Prevatt (right)
directs student hurricane researchers (from left to right)
Bo Cui, Zach Dukes, Cos Gardner, Russell R. Carter, PE and
Zhuzhao Liu. Dukes, who is from Charleston, remembers the
devastating effects of hurricane Hugo in 1989. |
In
an effort to transfer research into practical applications, Prevatt
and his students made an informal presentation to the South Carolina
Sea Grant Consortium in Charleston. Clemson researchers and disaster
mitigation specialists discussed what the new data collected during
the 2004 hurricane season will mean for hurricane preparedness efforts.
Prevatt
and his students worked with the Florida Coastal Monitoring Project
— a research alliance between Clemson, University of Florida
in Gainesville and Florida International University — to capture
data on hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne as they made
landfall. For the first time ever, homes, outfitted with instruments
as part of the project, captured wind pressure data on buildings
subjected to the direct impact of hurricane-force winds. Prevatt
is eager to share the data in an effort to increase collaboration
among mitigation and planning agencies in coastal communities along
the East Coast.
“If
we can improve our prediction of the wind forces and failure mechanisms
occurring in buildings, we can develop construction materials and
building codes that will help produce safer homes and minimize the
fear factor,” Prevatt said. “In order to do that, we
have to share our research with disaster specialists — or
our coastal communities will continue to be passive victims of hurricanes.”
The
S.C. Sea Grant Consortium has helped fund Clemson’s wind load
test facility since 1987.
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