'The damage will not be as severe': Iowa State's new tornado simulator could change building design
A new Iowa State project to design a tornado simulator could help test buildings under tornadic conditions.
Dr. Partha Sarkar studies how buildings are destroyed during severe weather. He wants to understand where the weak points are so he can design safer, sturdier buildings that are more resistant to severe storms.
The issue is the data he needs would require him to know where a tornado will strike, something scientists don't know how to predict. So, instead, he creates his own storms.
Sarkar builds miniature models of existing structures and puts them into a tornado simulator to test their strength. He controls the size, strength and path of his scaled-down natural disasters.
Then, he takes his measurements and uses algorithms to estimate how the same situation would play out in nature. But he knows there are variables his simulation can't predict.
Now, he is working on creating a new, bigger and more realistic simulator that can mimic storms more accurately.
The U.S. National Science Foundation is giving Sarkar a $14 million grant to design the new simulator. Sarkar said he hopes this one will be large enough that full-size structures will fit inside to be exposed to the winds once the design is complete. He will seek more funding to build it.