Name:

Marine Technology & Life Sciences Seawater Research Building

Location:

Miami, Florida, USA

Institution:

University of Miami (UM)

Funding:

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

Project Rationale:

Hurricanes are the costliest natural disasters that strike the United States. A better understanding of how structures withstand — or fail to withstand — wind, wave and surge forces during a hurricane could lead to improved construction standards and practices to enhance resiliency and to protect human lives. Many critical challenges to environmental and human health are occurring in marine ecosystems and can be addressed using a dynamic, integrated seawater laboratory building design.

Facility Highlights:

The Marine Technology & Life Sciences Seawater Research Building will consist of two distinct, but interconnected components:

• An 8,520 square foot (792 square meter) state-of-the-art SUSTAIN (Surge-Structure-Atmosphere Interaction) research facility.
  • Only facility worldwide with a wind-wave-storm surge simulator capable of generating hurricane force winds in a three dimensional test environment.
  • Innovative experimental test bed to enhance the development of hi-resolution coupled wind-wave-surge fluid dynamic models for hurricane impacts on coastal structures.
  • Access to seawater for laboratory experiments that enable direct observations of sea spray on heat and momentum transfers across the air-sea interface in high winds to improve hurricane forecasting.
  • Capability to physically model entire segments of coastal communities, which will help study changes in the way buildings are designed and constructed, so progressive collapse can be successfully mitigated.
  • Equipment for the study of wind-driven rain/spray, which will enable advances in the science related to moisture intrusion in structures.
  • Realistic, but scaled, and controlled environment for the simulation of weather events, including extreme forcing and mixing, and rapid hurricane intensification.
• A 47,942 square foot (4,454 square meter) Marine Life Science Center, funded in part by this award, designed to support cutting edge research on living marine organisms, including:
  • Coral reef research to understand the effects of climate change on corals and reef- building processes, and develop strategies for reef restoration, including coral nursery programs.
  • Fisheries and biological oceanography research to generate models of the biological and physical processes that affect the distribution of marine organisms and connectivity between marine populations.
  • Sustainable aquaculture research to improve nutrition, disease control and efficiency of production of early life stages in certain species of fish.
  • The National Resource for Aplysia cultures and distributes California sea hares (Aplysia californica) to laboratories around the world for research on neurophysiology and the cellular basis of memory and learning.
  • Marine biomedical research to understand the relationship between the oceans and human health via studies of harmful algal blooms (HABs), the effects of toxins in the marine environment and aquatic animal models of human disease.

Building Size:

56,462 square feet (5,246 square meters)

LEED Certification:

Yes

Architects:

Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc.

Target for Completion:

Summer 2012

Principal Investigator:

Dr. Brian Haus, UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Associate Professor of Applied Marine Physics and Director of ASIST

Co-Principal Investigators:

Dr. Robert Cowen, UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Maytag Professor of Ichthyology and Chair, Marine Biology and Fisheries

Dr. Hans Graber, UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Professor and Chair, Applied Marine Physics and Director of CSTARS

Dr. Antonio Nanni, UM College of Engineering, Professor and Chair of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Director of NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center on Repair of Buildings, Bridges and Composites

Collaborators:

UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
UM College of Engineering
NOAA — Atlantic Ocean Meteorological Laboratory
NOAA — Southeast Fisheries Science Center
Center of Excellence Miami Wind™

Media Contacts:

Barbra Gonzalez, UM Rosenstiel School, barbgo@rsmas.miami.edu
Maria Guma Diaz, UM Communications, m.gumadiaz@umiami.edu

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