When it comes to extreme weather Japan鈥檚 population have more on their minds than a repeat of last summer鈥檚 record-breaking temperatures, when some 170 died from heat stroke. It seems the number of powerful tornadoes hitting the country may be on the increase.
In an effort to understand how extreme weather causes structural damage, four Japanese organisations 鈥� the (NILIM), the Building Research Institute, the University of Tokyo and the Disaster Prevention Research Institute at Kyoto University 鈥� have been developing a tornado simulator .
鈥淲e鈥檙e doing this because there鈥檚 been many more reports of serious structural damages in recent years compared to before,鈥� says Hitomitsu Kikitsu at NILIM in Tsukuba, Ibaraki.
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The simulator is 1.5 metres in diameter and is mounted on a frame that is 2.3 metres tall and 5 metres wide. It can generate maximum wind velocity of 15 to 20 metres per second, enough to simulate an F3-size storm. On Japan鈥檚 Fujita Scale, an F3 storm is one powerful enough to uproot large trees, lift and hurl cars, knock down walls and destroy steel-frame structures.
鈥淭his device has the ability to simulate a F3-size storm and that鈥檚 never been done in Japan,鈥� Kikitsu says.
Kikitsu and his team plan to test the device by building model houses that fit under his simulator.
