Undergraduate Research Experience (REU), NHERI 2018: Modifications to a Real-Time Data Transmission System for Hurricane Wind Data Collection

Participated in two concurrent efforts to improve the operability of, and data quality produced by portable hurricane wind data collection systems. Refurbished the systems’ physical infrastructure and data transmission system, and implementing an algorithm within existing data processing software to calculate a parameter (roughness length z_0) that quantifies the roughness of the terrain the wind flows over as it approaches the data collection system. Conducted routine maintenance on the outrigger systems of the hurricane data collection towers. Discussed three methods towards calculating roughness length, implemented, tested and analyzed one of the methods, and made recommendations for future updates based on an initial comparative analysis.