Miami, Fl., May 28, 2026 — At the Florida International University’s Wall of Wind facility, researchers are testing manufactured homes against hurricane-force winds – in what may be the first experiment of its kind conducted at any university in the world. The WOW, a 12-fan wind tunnel capable of wind speeds up to 157 MPH, is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) program.

Roughly 22 million Americans live in manufactured housing, much of it concentrated in hurricane-prone regions of the Southeast where federal wind-safety standards have not been meaningfully updated in decades. The storms hitting those regions have been frequent, extremely damaging, costly, and life threatening to manufactured home residents. The gap between existing codes and what the storms deliver is what these tests are designed to measure.

Home installation is key

The WOW testing series, led by University of Kansas researcher Elaina Sutley, is designed to evaluate the structural performance and behavior of manufactured home installation systems under moderate- and high-wind loading conditions. The program spans eight weeks (May 4 – June 30, 2026) with 23 individual wind tests planned across three full-scale specimens – followed by a 1:8 scaled model test, which will provide data vital for researchers to expand scenarios.

For the full-scale tests, researchers will systematically vary six independent parameters: wind zone anchorage level, crawl space skirting condition, building envelope enclosure state, first floor elevation, gravity and anchor support type, wind speed, and unit orientation relative to the wind direction.

In the May 13 tests, the first manufactured housing unit was subjected to a range of wind speeds and installation practices used in different U.S. wind zones, the conditions that govern how manufactured homes are anchored everywhere from South Florida to the Great Plains.

Installed to the most rigorous construction practices with steel straps and anchor ties designed to secure it to the ground, it held relatively stable as fan-generated winds reached hurricane force winds.

At a less-rigorous code-level anchorage, however the house lifted and rolled.

The first manufactured home specimen lifted and rolled. (Image: Florida International University)
 

Field work versus experimentation

In the field, researchers can only study manufactured homes after a hurricane has already destroyed them; thus, not knowing the progression of damage leading to failure. The Wall of Wind facility changes that.

"In the field, we can only see the destruction. After the destruction, we don't know how it happens," Chowdhury said. "Here with these experiments, we have a much more controlled environment, so we can test various configurations, various installation practices, and then test it at particular wind speeds."

The program’s scaled model testing provides the wind pressure data needed for finite element modeling, and the full-scale tests provide the model’s validation with structural performance data. The modeling critically helps expand the scenarios the team can examine.

Meet the Team

Leading the experimental program is Elaina Sutley of the University of Kansas, in partnership with William Collins of the University of Kansas, Thang Dao of the University of Alabama, and Arindam Chowdhury, Ioannis Zisis, and Amal Elawady of Florida International University.

At the University of Kansas, Sutley is building a consortium dubbed Working toward Earthquake and Wind Safe Manufactured Housing or the WE WiSH Consortium. The collaborative effort is already bringing together researchers from the University of Kansas, University of Alabama, Florida International University, Texas Tech University, San Francisco State University, and the University of California San Diego, as well as industry partners.

The research team, from left: Afeez Badmus, PhD Student, University of Kansas; Pedro Marquez, MS Student, University of Kansas; Santiago Ruiz Zorrilla, PhD Student, University of Alabama; Dr. Thang Dao, University of Alabama; Dr. Elaina Sutley, University of Kansas; Dr. William Collins, University of Kansas; Andres Alvarado Cueva, MS Student, University of Kansas; Dr. Arindam Chowdhury, Florida International University. (Image: Florida International University)

The goal: to update building codes

“Doing this testing at the Wall of Wind is letting us observe how progressive failure happens – which lets us design solutions,” said Sutley. “And those solutions become the really important changes that reduce losses and save lives.”

The team will spend the coming months analyzing the data to determine exactly when and how each component performed, and where today's standards leave gaps. The data and the team’s analyses will be shared with federal agencies, standards bodies, and state and municipal building code offices responsible for updating manufactured housing safety codes and installation practices.

"This has been done for the first time probably, at least in the U.S. and probably in the world, putting a manufactured home, with the proper installation practices in the field, and testing at hurricane-level wind speeds," said Arindam Chowdhury, professor and co-director of the Wall of Wind. "Our facility is the only one that can do these kinds of things in an academic setting."

Hurricane season begins June 1.

Arindam Chowdhury, professor and co-director of the NSF NHERI Wall of Wind. (Image: Florida International University)

Related Links

NHERI Wall of Wind

WE WiSH Project

NHERI Wall of Wind Experiments Target Outdated Building Codes for Manufactured Housing

Elaina Sutley, University of Kansas