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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
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      <title>Risk Evaluation of Transportation Systems to Tornadoes to Facilitate SAFE Digital Twin Development</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2703879</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project will develop tornado hazard curves for tornado-prone regions. To achieve this, the tornado genesis model will be applied to generate a large number of tornado starting points. Then, the tornado track model will be applied to simulate track parameters (e.g., path width, length, heading direction and intensity). Next, for each tornado track, a wind field model will be established to obtain the information on the entire wind field, including wind velocity and pressure. For this, CFD simulations will be first applied to model a small number of tornadoes with representative flow structure and intensities; a surrogate model will then be developed using the multi-fidelity machine learning modeling technique, to replace the time-consuming CFD simulations. Finally, the generated data from the synthetic tornado tracks for a great number of years will be processed statistically to develop tornado hazard curves and tornado hazard maps for the states in Mainland America. The developed tornado hazard curves will help Department of Transportation properly assess the damage to vehicles on the road or in parking lots, informing stakeholders of preparation for future tornadoes. The developed curves can be integrated into catastrophe modeling to better estimate the risk of vehicles under tornadoes and thus better price the automobile insurance premium. In addition, these curves can improve the building codes related to a tornado-resistant design. ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 18 May 2026 17:13:44 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2703879</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Understanding Moving/Damage Mechanism of Vehicles under Tornadoes for Enhancing Vehicle/Driver Safety
</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2627651</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Tornadoes have caused catastrophic damage to buildings and vehicles. Although considerable research has been conducted on the performance of buildings under tornadoes, the performance of motor vehicles (e.g., cars, pickups, vans, and box trucks) under tornadoes was rarely studied. Unfortunately, about 15% of tornado fatalities during 1975–1995 were attributed to the moving or damage of motor vehicles and about 9% during 1985-2015. To protect motor vehicles from being damaged by tornadoes and accordingly to reduce tornado fatalities, the objective of this project is to understand the moving/damage mechanism of motor vehicles (e.g., sliding, flipping and lofting) under tornadoes using systematic computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, which will be verified and validated by the PI’s large-scale laboratory tornado simulator. To achieve the stated research objective, three research tasks have been planned. The proposed research will answer the following five research questions. 1) What tornado intensity can cause a vehicle to slide, flip and loft, respectively? 2) What role does atmospheric pressure drop at tornado center play in initiating each vehicle motion? 3) What role does turbulence in tornadic wind field play in initiating each vehicle motion? 4) Does internal pressure inside a motor vehicle play any role in vehicle moving? and 5) What potential modifications can be made to motor vehicles in order to defer the initiating of each vehicle motion? The research findings can not only help regular vehicles in the parking lot or on the road experience less damage, but also can be integrated into autonomous vehicles for them to make informed decisions and then take proper actions to reduce the tornado-induced damage. In addition, research findings can be used to improve tornado safety recommendations for drivers on the road.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:07:30 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2627651</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Driving through Extreme Weather (DEW) Mobile APP: Improving Risk Communication from NWS to Vehicle Drivers</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2341574</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Severe thunderstorms, such as tornadoes, pose a significant threat to the traveling public
and transportation personnel along roadway corridors. For a number of reasons, road travelers cannot receive severe weather warning for their current or down-road locations, which puts them at risk for being impacted by severe weather. In addition, even though the road travelers can receive severe weather warning, they may not take any actions as they do not know what they can do to make them safe. This suggests that extra message
(guidance on where to drive to) is needed by road travelers, besides severe weather warning. Recognizing this need, this project will propose to develop an advanced decision-making framework that can provide the optimized route for vehicle drivers based on big data, in order to facilitate them in taking timely protective actions during extreme weather. To achieve this, a route-optimizing algorithm will be developed to identify an optimized route for vehicle drivers during severe weather, and a mobile app will be developed to facilitate in real-time sending the optimized route to vehicle drivers (risk communication). This product will add a layer of protection to those traveling to ensure that they reach their destination safely. This product can provide end-users when they should get off the highway and which route they should take to get to the nearest storm shelter. Tornadoes will be taken as an example of extreme weather; Missouri will be taken as a pilot location; NWS in Springfield, MO will be taken as our collaborative NWS office; and Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) will be brought onboard to develop this mobile app together. The proposed framework and App development procedure can be applied to improve the public safety under other extreme weather conditions and in other locations.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 19 Feb 2024 16:41:26 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2341574</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Investigation of Wind Effects on Bridges Induced by Tornadoes for Tornado-Resistant Design – Phase II</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1685042</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Tornadoes have destroyed or severely damaged a number of bridges in the USA. Considering that tornadic wind loads have not been considered as a design load in the latest version (the 8th Edition, published in 2017) of the AASHTO Bridge Design Specifications, in Phase I of this project starting in January, 2019, the PI has been characterizing the wind effects induced by tornadoes on bridges that do not normally experience large deformation and vibration during strong winds. That is, the bridge can assumed to be rigid in the computational domain and the wind pressure on the bridge can be determined without the consideration of the wind-bridge interaction, which is suitable for short-span or middle-span bridges. This project (Phase II) is to characterize the wind effects induced by tornadoes on those bridges whose deformation and vibration are significant under strong winds. In this case, the wind-bridge interaction will be considered and two-way coupled simulations will be conducted. This is suitable for long-span bridges, such as cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges. The obtained research findings will be used to modify the equations for calculating the design wind pressure on bridges, preventing bridges from being severely damaged or destroyed during future tornado incidents. ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 16:25:13 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1685042</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Investigation of Wind Effects on Bridges Induced by Tornadoes for Tornado-Resistance Design – Phase I</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1582154</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The impact of tornadoes on civil structures is often devastating and results in loss of property, injury of human beings and/or loss of lives. In particular, thus far, 13 bridges have been destroyed or severely damaged by tornadoes in the USA. Even in the latest version (8th Edition, 2017) of the AASHTO Bridge Design Specifications, tornadic wind loads have not been considered as a design load. To prevent bridges from being severely damaged or destroyed during future tornado incidents, it is imperative to characterize the wind effects induced by tornadoes on bridges and determine the design tornadic wind loads for bridges. This project will characterize the wind effects of tornadoes on bridges using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, and modify the equations for calculating the design wind pressure on bridges. The obtained research findings will facilitate the tornado-resistance design of new bridges and the reinforcement of existing bridges to be tornado-resistant. This will eventually prevent bridges from failure during tornado incidents to enhance the safety of highway or railroad bridges.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 06 Feb 2019 18:00:56 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1582154</guid>
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