Wind conference looks beyond wind engineering

Politics affect everything, even hurricanes. A conference at Clemson University will explore not only the wind-engineering aspects of the storms but also their sociopolitical impacts in North, South and Central America.

Approximately 150 participants will attend the June 3-6 Americas Conference on Wind Engineering. Joining the wind engineers will be sociologists, risk managers, emergency preparedness managers, meteorologists, architects, contractors and manufacturers. Together for the first time, the experts will share their knowledge about the impact and fallout of nature1s most devastating force.

"Our goal was to develop a conference program that would bring together a wide range of experts to explore interdisciplinary wind-related issues," said Scott Schiff, Clemson associate professor of civil engineering and conference chair.

"Hurricanes and tornadoes destroy more than homes. They can ruin communities, bring down entire power grids and leave areas in economic disaster. Complex problems require complex answers. That's why we're here."

The conference will focus on decision making and policy, performance of low-rise buildings and state-of-the-art issues in research and practice. Topics range from the effect of over-inflated wind speeds in Hurricane Floyd to how to create low-cost refuge rooms, new wind load codes for homes and creation of a national wind hazard reduction program.

For the full program, go to http://www.ce.clemson.edu/acwe/

According to the civil engineering bible Engineering News-Record, tornadoes and hurricanes kill more Americans and destroy more property than any other natural disaster, including floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In any given year, two hurricanes are likely to strike the coast of the United States.

Formerly known as the U.S. National Conference on Wind Engineering, the conference was renamed to reflect the desire for participation beyond just primarily the United States and Canada. The four planned regional (Americas, European-African, Asia-Pacific and Eastern European) conferences will rotate with the International Conference of Wind Engineering.