Reinhold Honored at National Hurricane Conference

The National Hurricane Conference presented its Outstanding Achievement Award in Mitigation to Dr. Timothy Reinhold, vice president of engineering at the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS).

The presentation was made in New Orleans at the conference’s annual forum for education and professional training in hurricane preparedness held March 21-25. The award noted Dr. Reinhold’s “longtime and much respected efforts in researching structural damage caused by hurricanes.”

During the 2004 hurricane season, Dr. Reinhold worked with the University of Florida, Florida Institute of Technology, Clemson University and Florida International University to coordinate multiple deployments of wind speed towers and home instrumentations as part of the Florida Coastal Monitoring Project (FCMP). This project, which he initiated with support from the Florida Department of Community Affairs in 1998, measures the true level of hurricane events in residential areas and examines various measures to reduce damage. Ultimately, the house data will be studied in an effort to further validate wind tunnel modeling techniques and assess the accuracy of building code provisions for defining wind loads in hurricane prone regions.

He also worked with leading engineers and other organizations last year to seek a correction to the 2004 Florida Building Code, which would have lessened the requirements for wind-resistant construction in the state’s interior and made new homes over about one-quarter of the state more vulnerable to high winds. In August 2004, the Florida Building Commission voted to correct the oversight so the 2004 code would meet the existing level of wind requirements.

Before joining IBHS, Dr. Reinhold was a professor of civil engineering at Clemson University, where his research provided the underpinnings for changes in state and national standards that increase wind loads for screen enclosures and for roofs on open and partially enclosed structures.

“Dr. Reinhold’s research, analysis and recommendations in the field of residential and commercial property construction has significantly advanced the protection of homes and businesses,” said IBHS President & CEO Harvey Ryland.