The dark cloud of Hurricane Ike has passed, leaving debris-filled streets and power outages in its wake, but the hurricane came with a silver lining heralded by a UH professor.
Cumaraswamy Vipulanandan, professor of civil engineering at UH, viewed Hurricane Ike’s effects not as a burden, but as a watermark for improvement.
"We do not want to predict (damages), but rather minimize losses from our ground operations," Vipulanandan said. "The question for us is how can we get back to normal with operations as soon as possible? Both in the public and private sectors."
It is this critique that led him to direct the Texas Hurricane Center for Innovative Technology, a program concentrating on research for hurricane damage prevention and rapid recovery.
The center hopes to develop hurricane protection products and systems as well as repair technologies to mitigate losses, both on and offshore, through the assessment of Hurricane Ike, Vipulanandan said.
The Texas Hurricane Center for Innovative Technology created an online Ike assessment survey to collect people’s experiences during the storm, which is available at www.egr.uh.edu/hurricane/files/assessment.pdf
The survey includes questions on the severity and cost of damages, insurance and location. Vipulanandan said the questions would help direct attention where it is most needed.
"The Texas Hurricane Center for Innovative Technology will investigate the issues related to each item critically with the related agencies so that we can come (up) with alternative solutions for the future," Vipulanandan said.
The THC-IT has been open less than a year, but researchers have already begun studies on new damage controlling technology.
Small-scale testing on government-funded "smart materials" is being researched at UH laboratories. These adaptive materials will help transport the necessary aid without harming the present environment.
Another project of the THC-IT is a machine-operated Galveston seawall. This protective wall, activated from a remote position, would have the capability to double in size during a storm surge.
This project is still in an experimental stage, but Vipulanandan said a partnership with the Port and Airport Authority of Japan has already been initiated.
"We have already started a small-scale testing program, and the results will be used in developing proposals in the future," he said.
Because the THC-IT does not have a new testing center, all studies are conducted at UH facilities. This is something Vipulanandan said he hopes will change in the future.
"All that were mentioned before are being tested in our laboratories. With the future state of Texas funding we plan to build better and bigger unique testing facilities," Vipulanandan said.
For more information, visit the Texas Hurricane Center for Innovative Technology Web site at www.egr.uh.edu/hurricane/.com
