It’s the sort of thing you’d expect ordered by Wile E. Coyote from an ACME catalog. But instead, it’s a product for the Hurricane Research Centre to prepare for the devastating natural disasters. Six giant gasoline-powered fans drive winds at well over 160kph in a wall of moving air that’s large enough to engulf an entire single-story building. Read on for a shot of the quarantined destruction:
Their next project, however, is even bigger. Funded by a Florida grant of US$2 million, the research centre is building an all-electric 12-fan “Wall of Wind” hurricane hanger designed to simulate the complete experience of Class 4 and 5 hurricanes. Now a completely internally-based system, the fans will propel air and water accompanied by cannons that fire objects like coconuts.
Because, sadly, someone in history has legitimately died from high speed coconut impact. [Pop Mech]