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170 episodes
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DesignSafe Radio Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure
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- Science
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5.0 • 5 Ratings
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We all have experienced natural hazards in our lives: earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunami, floods: they impact our society at the most fundamental levels. Through rigorous testing and outreach programs, the team at the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure is committed to making sure the next natural hazard doesn't have to be a disaster for you and your family. From the National Science Foundation and the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure: This is DesignSafe radio!
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The WOW Challenge and the future of wind engineering Featuring Erik Salna
In our final episode with FIU meteorologist Erik Salna, we learn about the Wall of Wind Challenge, an annual event for high school students. NHERI researchers provide a specific wind mitigation challenge. Student teams design and build a protective structure, and then get the chance to test their designs in the Wall of Wind. It’s an exciting competition, which is judged by engineers who are Wall of Wind alums! See below for links to the 2024 event and Salna’s template for conducting this popular STEM competition for high schools.
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Wall of Wind: Testing civil infrastructure Featuring Erik Salna
FIU-based meteorologist and educator Erik Salna relates some unusual but important WOW experiments to test the effects of wind loading on civil infrastructure such as construction cranes and electrical power towers. One unique project used flying debris in the wind tunnel to derive an algorithm for determining wind speeds in video captures.
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Wall of Wind & Hurricane Research Featuring Erik Salna
Meteorologist and educator Erik Salna provides nitty-gritty details on the gigantic, NSF-funded wind research lab called the Wall of Wind, or WOW. Located at Florida International University in Miami, the WOW facility is part of the NSF-funded NHERI network. Each of WOW’s 12-fans are six feet in diameter and weigh nearly 15,000 pounds. Powered up together, the 720HP electric motors can reproduce category 5 hurricane wind speeds, 157MPH.
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Snakeskin-inspired piles and tech transfer Featuring Alejandro Martínez
UC Davis professor Alejandro Martínez is moving his bio-inspired snakeskin piles into industry practice. The novel pile-surface employs “frictional directionality” characteristic of snakeskin. Field trials provided better than expected results, and Martínez is now working to get his new design into the hands of practicing geotechnical engineers. Much of his NSF-supported research took place at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling; the project is part of the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center, the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, CBBG, at Arizona State University.
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Engineering with Evolution Featuring Alejandro Martínez
UC Davis professor Alejandro Martínez explains how biogeotechnical engineers leverage solutions from lifeforms like worms, trees, and bacteria. It starts with fundamental, cross-disciplinary work with biologists. Then, at the UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM), centrifuge tests fill an important gap between laboratory ideas and full-scale field tests. For instance, by replicating ground stress and increased gravity in a centrifuge, geotechs can model and test designs at greater soil depths and across soil types. The NHERI CGM facility functions as a testbed for the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) called the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, CBBG, based at Arizona State University.
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Biogeotechnics: Engineers leverage, learn from nature featuring Alejandro Martínez
Geotechnical engineer Alejandro Martínez joins us to discuss a new and multidisciplinary engineering subfield called biogeotechnics. “Bioinspired” research examines and mimics ways that plants, animals and bacteria successfully interact with soil. For example: how tree roots successfully resist wind loads. “Biomediated” research uses biological elements to improve soil. For example, byproducts of certain bacteria can cement and desaturate soil — potentially preventing liquefaction in susceptible areas.
Customer Reviews
The best!
Whether you're in the industry or just like to nerd out on sience and engineering content, Design Safe Radio does not disappoint!
Hurricane season in Florida
We just moved to Florida three years ago, this year has been crazy with the Number of hurricanes coming up the coast, what a great show for resources and information regarding hurricanes and preparedness! Thank you!!
Ray from Game Changing Dad's.
In Depth and Fascinating
There's so much to learn about the incredible research going on around the world into improving safety and resilience of communities as they face natural hazards. This show has a well-curated stream of guests, is very timely in its coverage of current events, and is filling a cool niche. The content can be a bit heavy sometimes if seismic engineering, storm surge modeling, and the like aren't your cup of tea (certainly a strong cup of tea), but this podcast is deeply fascinating.