Seminar

The Role of Thunderstorms and Tornadoes in Wind Engineering

February 27, 2026

University School for Advanced Studies (IUSS) Pavia
Sala del Camino, Palazzo Broletto
Piazza della Vittoria 15, 27100 Pavia

Seminar can be attended also online: https://iusspavia.zoom.us/my/br.saladelcamino

       Dr. Frank Lombardo

       Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering                          University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

       Co-Director of the Extreme Wind Resilience Center

Windstorms cause the most damage annually of any natural hazard in the United States. In most years, an overwhelming percentage of this damage is caused by severe convective storms (i.e., thunderstorms and tornadoes). Despite these losses, very little is known about the characteristics of these events, their relation to wind loading, and how they differ from current prescriptions in wind load codes and standards. This talk will focus on the integrated work that is occurring at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in an attempt to increase understanding of these phenomena and their impacts. Specifically, discussion will include:

1) characterization of tornado, tornado-like and thunderstorm winds and wind loading relevant to engineering through field experiments and post- damage assessment; 

2) utilization and assimilation of field data into experimental and computational projects to broaden the knowledge and application of these types of windstorms;

3) incorporation of thunderstorms and tornadoes into building codes and standards.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Frank Lombardo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he also serves as Co-Director of the Extreme Wind Resilience Center. Dr. Lombardo specializes in wind engineering, where he focuses on characterization of extreme winds such as tornadoes and thunderstorms and the associated loading and damage they cause to the built and natural environment. He also serves on professional committees related to windstorms including the ASCE Wind Load Subcommittee (WLSC). He serves as vice-chair of the tornado task committee of the WLSC, which has developed tornado loading provisions for inclusion in ASCE 7-22.