It starts with a roar.
The dimly lit, one-room house trembles as the wind and rain pound relentlessly.
Water leaks in through cracks in the bare wooden floor.
The solitary window bends inward like a bubble just about to pop.
Outside, the sun shines.
On Monday afternoon, the students, faculty and staff of UF's hurricane research team demonstrated their mobile hurricane simulator at the Powell Family Structures and Materials Laboratory on UF's Eastside Campus.
A block of eight fans, each five feet tall and powered by four external marine diesel engines, simulated the effects of a Category 3 hurricane on a model of a one-story home.
UF researchers use the simulator to test how well different building materials and techniques hold up against wind and rain at speeds of about 120 mph, similar to those experienced in some of Florida's past hurricane seasons.
Engines capable of a combined 2,800 horsepower drive water to hydraulic-powered fans, and tubes spit water from a 5,000-gallon tank to simulate wind-driven rain.
The entire machine is mobile, so it can be tested on real homes donated for hurricane research. The simulator is about 10 feet tall and about 20 feet long.
The effort was spearheaded by Forrest Masters, assistant professor of civil and coastal engineering at UF, and took the hurricane research team about eight months and $500,000 to complete.
Masters said the team plans to test different types of wall, exterior finishes, windows and installation procedures for their effectiveness in preventing water damage to homes.
Every project has its challenges, Masters said, and the simulator was no exception.
"We started with only a set of plans and instruction manuals," he said.
"Fortunately, we have a lot of talented students at UF, and we were able to harness their creative abilities."
George Fernandez, a civil and coastal engineering student, works on simulators used in UF's hurricane research.
A shingle shooter and a tile launcher test the damage done to pieces of roof material pulled loose during violent storms.
The shingle shooter can send a square shingle flying at 70 mph, and the tile-launcher, roughly the size of a cannon, projects clay roof tiles that dent steel shutters used to protect windows.
"Anything that breaks stuff is right up our alley," Fernandez said with a smile.
