Engineering

WIND RESISTANCEGone with the Wind? Huskers Investigate Mystery of Last Standing Grain Bin
By Scott Schrage
More than 750,000 steel silos and bins are estimated to pepper rural America, often standing empty before filling up on the annual harvest. Most cannot withstanding winds of 100-plus miles per hour – but some can.
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GEOEGINEERINGArtificial Ocean Cooling to Weaken Hurricanes Is Futile: Study
A new study found that even if we did have the infinite power to artificially cool enough of the oceans to weaken a hurricane, the benefits would be minimal. The researchers suggest that ocean cooling is an effectively impossible solution to mitigate disasters.
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HURRICANESThirty Years After Hurricane Andrew Devastated Florida, Researchers Are Using a “Wall of Wind” to Design Safer Homes – but Storms Are Getting Even More Intense
By Richard Olson and Ameyu B. Tolera
Studies show tropical storms are ramping up in intensity as the climate changes and ocean and air temperatures rise. Designing homes and infrastructure to withstand future storms like Dorian will require new test facilities that go well beyond today’s capabilities – for what we believe should be called Category 6 storms.
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GEOENGINEERINGScientists Evaluate Earth-Cooling Strategies
By Blaine Friedlander
A group of international scientists is – more rigorously and systematically than ever before – evaluating whether and how the stratosphere could be made just a little bit “brighter,” reflecting more incoming sunlight so that an ever-warming Earth maintains its cool.
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COASTAL CHELLENGESU.S. Senate Approves Bill Containing Texas’ “Ike Dike” Coastal Protection Project
By Erin Douglas
The U.S. Senate voted to authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin planning for a massive coastal barrier project in Galveston Bay meant to protect against hurricanes’ storm surge. Funding is not yet secured.
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FLOODSMitigating Flood Disasters
Engineers have proposed a flood control measure which recommends designing permeable pavements to specifically suit local rainfall and soil conditions and reduce flood impacts.
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GeoengineeringExperts Call for More Comprehensive Research into Solar Geoengineering
Two articles published in Science magazine this week argue for more and better social science research into the potential use of solar geoengineering to offset some of the global warming from greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
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Coastal ChallengesHow Marsh Grass Protects Shorelines
By David L. Chandler
As climate change brings greater threats to coastal ecosystems, new research can help planners leverage the wave-damping benefits of marsh plants.
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FloodsNew Tool Mappin Floods Since 1985 Will Aid Disaster Planning
Free online World Flood Mapping Tool will help plan urban and agricultural development, effective flood defenses, disaster readiness, and identify supply chain vulnerabilities
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Climate challengesBlocking the Sun to Control Global Warming
By Nancy Bazilchuk
It sounds like something out of a bad science fiction movie — artificially blocking sunlight to keep global warming from overheating the Earth. Nevertheless, a small cadre of researchers is studying the option — so that if humankind ever needs to use it, it will be an informed decision.
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Post-9/11 building codesHow the Terrifying Evacuations from the Twin Towers on 9/11 Helped Make Today's Skyscrapers Safer
By Erica Kuligowski
One legacy of the 9/11 tragedy and the harrowing experience of those who successfully escaped the Twin Towers – the disaster was the most significant high-rise evacuation in modern times — is that today’s skyscrapers can be emptied much more safely and easily in an emergency.
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9/11: Twin Towers collapse9/11 Conspiracy Theories Debunked: 20 Years Later, Engineering Experts Explain How the Twin Towers Collapsed
By David Oswald, Erica Kuligowski, and Kate Nguyen
The collapse of the World Trade Center has been subject to intense public scrutiny over the last twenty years, prompting several investigations and spawning a variety of conspiracy theories. FEMA’s report was published in 2002, and NIST’s 3-year investigation produced a report which was published in 2005. While there have been critics of both reports, their explanation for the buildings’ collapse is widely accepted. They conclude it was not caused by direct impact by the aircraft, or the use of explosives, but by fires that burned inside the buildings after impact.
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Infrastructure protectionWhy Buildings Fall — Over Time
The recent collapse of the condo building in Florida served as a dire warning for the nation’s aging infrastructure problem and the deadly consequences that can result. Researchers explore how time can factor in a building collapse.
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Coastal challengesA 20-Foot Sea Wall Won’t Save Miami – How Living Structures Can Help Protect the Coast and Keep the Paradise Vibe
By Landolf Rhode-Barbarigos and Brian Haus
There’s no question that the city is at increasing risk of flooding as sea level rises and storms intensify with climate change. But the sea wall the Army Corps is proposing – protecting only 6 miles of downtown and the financial district from a storm surge – can’t save Miami and Dade County. There are more effective – and cheaper solutions.
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Climate & infrastructureMost Buildings Were Designed for an Earlier Climate – Here’s What Will Happen as Global Warming Accelerates
By Ran Boydell
Architects and engineers design buildings and other structures, like bridges, to operate within the parameters of the local climate. The structures are built using materials and following design standards which can withstand the range of temperatures, rainfall, snow, and wind which are expected, plus any geological issues such as earthquakes, subsidence, and ground water levels. When any of these parameters are exceeded, chances are some aspects of the structure will fail.
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