Wind Science and Engineering Research Center
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| Established | 1970 |
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Academic staff
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35 |
| Postgraduates | 40 |
| Location | Lubbock, Texas, U.S. |
| Website | www |
The National Wind Institute (NWI) at Texas Tech University (TTU) was established in December 2012, and is intended to serve as Texas Tech University’s intellectual hub for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research, commercialization and education related to wind science, wind energy, wind engineering and wind hazard mitigation and serves faculty affiliates, students, and external partners.
In 2003, with support from the National Science Foundation, the first interdisciplinary Ph.D. program dedicated to wind science and engineering was developed. Later, the Texas Wind Energy Institute (TWEI) was established, and is a partnership between TTU and Texas State Technical College designed to develop education and career pathways to meet workforce and educational needs of the expanding wind energy industry. Partly funded by the Texas Workforce Commission. In an effort to streamline and to promote synergy, both WiSE and TWEI have now integrated to form the National Wind Institute.
NWI organizes and administers large multi-dimensional TTU wind-related research projects and serves as the contact point for major project sponsors and other external partners.
The Wind Science and Engineering (WiSE) Research Center was established in 1970 as the Institute for Disaster Research, following the F5 Lubbock tornado that caused 26 fatalities and over $100 million in damage. Following the aftermath of the tornado, the WISE center developed the first comprehensive wind engineering report of its kind. In 2006, the Enhanced Fujita scale was developed at TTU to update the original Fujita scale that was first introduced in 1971. In 2003, with support from the National Science Foundation, the first interdisciplinary Ph.D. program dedicated to wind science and engineering was developed. Later, the Texas Wind Energy Institute (TWEI) was established as a partnership between TTU and Texas State Technical College designed to develop education and career pathways to meet workforce and educational needs of the expanding wind energy industry. A Bachelor's degree program in Wind Energy was opened in Spring 2012 and now has more than 100 students in the process of completing the degree requirements.
Both WiSE and TWEI have now integrated to form the National Wind Institute (NWI).
The Texas Tech campus hosts the NWI's administrative offices and the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel and Wind Library. The Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel is a closed wind tunnel offering a 1.8 m (5.9 ft) by 1.2 m (3.9 ft) test section that is capable of producing up winds speeds of up to 45 m/s (100 mph). The facility also hosts VorTECH, a tornado vortex simulator and a Pulsed Jet Wind tunnel, which is used to simulate thunderstorm downbursts. The NWI's Wind Library hosts one of the largest collections of wind related material in the world. The collection includes Ted Fujita's papers, reports and photographs, which were donated by the Fujita family and the University of Chicago. The library also includes documentation of more than 100 wind storms.
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