Oct 2026
Launched this website
A new home for my research, publications, and side thoughts.
This photo was taken at IBHS
Hey, I’m Mohamad
my passport and papers insist it’s Moham(e)d; I’m working on it…
Wind engineer at CPP and researcher at the Wall of Wind — obsessed with what extreme winds do to our communities.
I work on thunderstorm downbursts, tornadoes, and hurricanes, and I spend most days figuring out how towers, buildings, and solar arrays respond when the wind doesn’t behave the way the design codes assume. Then I turn it into papers, the part I secretly enjoy…
Beyond research, this space holds my personal side: unfiltered thoughts and off-the-clock adventures. None of it, I promise, is peer-reviewed…
Open to Collaborations
Tornado-induced effects on structures
I’m looking for collaborators to study how tornadoes affect the aerodynamics of buildings, through experiments and numerical simulation, and to help improve ASCE standards. If that sounds like you, get in touch…
See the open questionsNews & Highlights
Recent papers, milestones, talks, and announcements.
Sep 2026
Scaling-framework paper published in JWEIA
A time–frequency scaling framework for reproducing full-scale downbursts in wind tunnels and simulations.
Aug 2026
Joined CPP Wind Engineering Consultants
Started as a Wind Engineer, applying wind tunnel testing in practice alongside my postdoctoral research.
Jul 2026
Paper published in Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics
3D-PIV characterization of downburst-like outflows at the Wall of Wind, with the University of Genoa.
May 2026
Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering (Structural and Wind Engineering) at FIU, advised by Dr. Amal Elawady.
May 2026
SEI Futures Fund Student Scholarship
Awarded to attend the ASCE Structures Congress in Boston.
Jan 2026
Damaged-tower paper published in JWEIA
How partial damage changes the response of transmission towers to downburst winds.
Nov 2025
Façade review published in the Journal of Building Engineering
A state-of-the-art review of how high-rise building façades perform under wind loading.
What the Wind Keeps Teaching Me — Research Overview
I use experimental simulations of non-stationary winds to refine our understanding of how they affect the built environment—drawing on all the publicly available databases, because there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. The aim is to close the lingering gaps with more practical approaches, advance ASCE 7, and carry this effort into risk and resilience work…
My research asks how short-lived, non-stationary winds—thunderstorm downbursts, derechos, and tornadoes—interact with structures and infrastructure systems, and how to turn that understanding into design standards and risk tools that help communities adapt. I build a chain from full-scale field measurements, through large-scale experiments and fluid–structure interaction analysis, to codes, standards, and risk models.
The work is far from complete—it keeps evolving…
Selected Publications
Journal
Time-frequency scaling framework for downburst-like outflows: Challenges, full-scale validation, and prospects
Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 279, 106624 (2026)
A scaling framework that enforces similarity in both the time and frequency domains, so that full-scale downburst events can be reproduced consistently across experimental facilities and numerical simulations. The framework draws on a library of more than 500 velocity time histories and is validated against full-scale field records.
Journal
Aeroelastic response of undamaged and partially damaged transmission towers subjected to downburst-like outflows
Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 270, 106357 (2026)
Power infrastructures encounter intensified weather-related events capable of causing widespread destruction and endangering the safety of residential communities in the USA and worldwide. This study investigates the wind-induced response of both damaged and undamaged transmission towers subjected to downburst-induced wind loads through experimental simulations conducted on 1:50 aeroelastic models at the Wall of Wind Experimental Facility. The structural damage, representing aging and exposure to successive extreme weather events, is introduced by removing specific members. Results indicate that structural damage increases the RMS acceleration responses by 86% in the along-wind direction and 74% in the across-wind direction, and that both towers exhibit non-quasi-static behavior under downburst wind loading.
Ph.D. dissertation · FIU · May 2026
Wind-induced response of lattice structures subjected to atmospheric boundary layer and downburst winds
Lattice towers are widely used as primary structural systems for transmission lines and telecommunications infrastructure in the United States and worldwide. Their widespread deployment increases their exposure and vulnerability to extreme wind events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and downbursts. A Climate Central report noted that, in 2025, thunderstorms caused 67 fatalities and approximately $50.70 billion in economic losses in the United States. Accordingly, this study investigates the wind-induced response of lattice towers under downburst winds and compares it with that under atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) winds.
Downbursts can generate intense near-surface winds that impose substantial demands on the built environment. Their severity is especially critical for lattice towers, which are slender and flexible and therefore particularly vulnerable to such events. Understanding downburst effects on lattice towers is essential for identifying response characteristics distinct from those under ABL winds and for informing future design improvements. This can be pursued through field measurements, wind tunnel experiments, and numerical simulations. However, progress remains hampered by (i) the scarcity of field data capturing downburst-induced structural response, (ii) the transient nature of downbursts, which requires specialized simulation techniques and scaling approaches for wind tunnel testing, and (iii) the difficulty of conducting realistic vulnerability assessments.
To address these gaps, this study (1) investigates the wind-induced response of lattice towers under ABL and downburst winds through a field data collection campaign, (2) provides insights into experimentally simulated downburst-like outflows at the Wall of Wind Experimental Facility at Florida International University using 3D Particle Image Velocimetry (3D PIV), (3) proposes a generalized time-frequency scaling approach adaptable to existing wind tunnels, and (4) introduces, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first experimental approach for simulating a damaged lattice tower and examining its wind-induced response under downburst winds using a large-scale aeroelastic model.
Concisely, based on full-scale data, the results indicate the presence of vortex shedding that leads to excessive across-wind vibrations, compromising structural safety, although this phenomenon has not been discussed in the literature and receives limited attention in ASCE 74. Under downburst winds, the across-wind RMS acceleration is approximately 1.35 times that in the along-wind direction.