At the WHAM laboratory, we have been simulating the tornadic wind fields numerically (using CFD simulations) and experimentally (in laboratory tornado simulators) to study the static and dynamic responses on civil structures induced by tornadoes. We believe that the entire community has a role to play in improving their community’s resilience to tornadoes. To achieve true tornado resilience, besides technical advancements, the whole community should be aware of the threats and, following best practices, act appropriately together.
Start
March 29, 2019 - 2:00 pm
End
March 29, 2019 - 3:00 pm
Name: Dr. Guirong (Grace) Yan – Missouri University of Science and Technology/WHAM lab
Title: Making Tornado Alley a Better (and Safer) Place to Live
Location: NWC5600
Date: 2019/03/29
Time: 2:00 PM
Series: Boundary Layer, Urban Meteorology, and Land-Surface Processes
Abstract: At the WHAM laboratory, we have been simulating the tornadic wind fields numerically (using CFD simulations) and experimentally (in laboratory tornado simulators) to study the static and dynamic responses on civil structures induced by tornadoes. We believe that the entire community has a role to play in improving their community’s resilience to tornadoes. To achieve true tornado resilience, besides technical advancements, the whole community should be aware of the threats and, following best practices, act appropriately together. Therefore, we are Making Tornado Alley a Better (and Safer) Place to Live from the following two perspectives: 1) advancing research in tornado simulations and on the effects of winds on structures in an effort to properly determine the design loads for tornadic winds and 2) seeking to inform the entire community of tornado hazards and useful methods for mitigating damage using a virtual reality animation to facilitate a community-wide decision
to improve structural reinforcement. In this seminar, I will discuss how to simulate tornadoes properly so that they behave like those observed in nature. I will examine why tornado resistance is of utmost important for the entire community, and I will explain how two famous theories in behavioral finance — prospect theory and game theory — can be used to encourage the entire community to work together. Using prospect theory, we seek to convince individuals to reinforce their homes by informing them of the significant loss induced by tornadoes. To achieve this, we are developing a virtual reality animation to allow residents to travel to a time when a tornado strikes their community, so people can personally (yet virtually) experience tornado disasters. Game theory is applied to help the entire community reach an informed and, hopefully, unanimous decision on structural reinforcement.