It made waves and wind: Here “Sustain”, the biggest simulator … – TF1

This machine to wind and waves, called “Sustain”, looks like a gigantic aquarium. The largest simulator Hurricane The world has just opened at the University of Miami is expected to enhance the capacities of meteorologists to predict the intensity of cyclones and Storm tropics, an area that remains a weak point of science. It represents an investment of $ 15 million, which must be added $ 47 million for the building that houses it. It is six times greater than previous simulators wind and waves ever built.

When Brian Haus, the chief scientific officer of Sustain, starts the engine of 1,700 horsepower, a roar is heard and paddles begin agitating the 144,000 liters of the simulator. Blue-green color of the waves gently dying on the glass of the tank. Then they grow gradually before unleashing winds while the blower reaches a maximum strength category one hurricane (category 5), with a maximum speed of 251 km / hour. Soon after, spray appear on the side walls of the shell steel frame, which measures 23 meters long and 6 meters wide and nearly 2 meters deep.

Reduce the uncertainties Disaster

A green and white miniature house is hit these huge waves to simulate the scale damage suffered by the buildings along the coast. “Over the past twenty years our forecasts have continued to improve, with the exception of those on the power of hurricanes,” said Brian Haus, which emphasizes that this will be “a key element of the new simulator.”

The example perhaps the most striking of the hurricane that belies the best meteorologists was Wilma in 2005, Mexico. Its intensity grew from category two to five in hours. “It’s really what scares meteorologists because this uncertainty makes their work difficult,” says the scientist.

Studying the damage

Wilma remains the most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record. He had made dozens dead and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage.
Having lived Wilma and Hurricane Katrina the same year, which was even more devastating in Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico, Brian Haus vowed to find ways to better understand the physics of the power of hurricanes and how particular the heat accumulated in the oceans could power the storm energy.

The researchers also hope to use the Sustain simulator to understand how storms damage homes and buildings along the coast. “This is an important area of ​​research because most construction standards and use computer models are not based on data corresponding to what happens in reality when a hurricane,” said Brian Haus.

planes into the eye of hurricanes

Other groups, such as the Institute of Insurance companies and security houses (IIBHS), based in South Carolina, recreate strong winds, hailstorms and even fires using sized houses as models. But to place sensors on miniature houses in the Sustain simulator to study how these structures are affected by storms and hurricanes will also be able to help scientists, according to Paul Wilson, head of the modeling firm Risk Management Solutions to London.

“These are very useful projects to understand how buildings react to extreme weather events as they contribute to the knowledge on which our models are developed,” he says. Miami is a city where work many scientists specialized in research on storms and cyclones. The city is home to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and the division of hurricanes American Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The NOAA and the Army US Air regularly send planes packed with instruments into the eye of hurricanes, where pilots also cast off probes attached to small parachutes to measure the movements of the winds just above the surface of the ocean.