Media advisory: KU to test manufactured homes in hurricane winds May 13 in Florida
LAWRENCE — The WiSH project, based at the University of Kansas, is testing three full-scale manufactured housing units at the NHERI Wall of Wind Experimental Facility at Florida International University with the goal of providing evidence for needed building-code changes.
Read more about the project and plans for testing manufactured housing here.
Beginning at 7 a.m. CDT May 13, researchers will subject manufactured housing units to simulated hurricane-force winds to gather data on structural performance and failure points of various anchor and tie-down systems.
Media will have opportunities during Wednesday’s tests to observe testing operations, capture visuals of the experiments and interview researchers about manufactured housing resilience, affordable housing safety and hurricane preparedness. For media unable to attend in person, a livestream of the Wall of Wind testing will take place via Zoom at this link.
FIU will make visual assets from the tests available to media outlets via Dropbox. This folder will be updated as new assets become available.
Testing schedule
When: 7 a.m. to noon CDT May 13
- 7-9 a.m.: Media arrival and setup
- 9-10 a.m.: Manufactured home testing
- 10-11 a.m.: Researchers survey the damage; opportunity to do stand-ups and teases
- 11 a.m.-noon: Researchers available for one-on-one interviews.
Where: NSF-NHERI Wall of Wind at FIU Engineering & Computing Center, 10555 W. Flagler St., Miami, FL 33174.
Who: Researchers will be on-site to explain the testing and available for one-on-one interviews:
- Elaina Sutley, Diane M. Darwin Chair’s Council Associate Professor, KU
- Thang Dao, associate professor, University of Alabama
- Arindam Chowdhury, professor and director, NHERI Wall of Wind (WOW) Experimental Facility, Florida International University.
“Wind engineering and building standards have advanced significantly, with newer codes for other building types updated as recently as 2022 and moving toward 2028 revisions,” Sutley said. “Despite these advances, manufactured housing hasn’t kept pace. A lack of research has contributed to the stagnation. Efforts to study and improve these standards have historically faced skepticism. In early research proposals, we faced peer reviews that stated ‘you’ll never change manufactured homes’ and ‘manufactured homes aren’t engineered’ as reasons not to fund our research. We persisted, and we have since made headway in this space, but there is more to be done.”
Media seeking original quotes for a story but unable to attend testing in person may contact lead researcher Elaina Sutley at enjsutley@ku.edu.