Angel Dong ’25

Major

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Project Title

Wind Tunnel Construction and Experimentation on Umbrella Forms

Certificate(s): Architecture and Engineering, East Asian Studies

My project aimed to develop kinetic structures for coastal defense. These structures are umbrellas with a hyperbolic paraboloid, saddle-like shape, with a hinge to adjust it to different angles. They can act as sources of shade when upright in normal conditions but can be tilted to act as a flood barrier in hazardous conditions. I focused on testing these umbrella structures for performance under wind using a wind tunnel that we constructed. Then, I compared our results to results obtained from the University of Oviedo in Spain, where the same structure was tested. I learned a lot about wind engineering through my internship, as well as many new skills including 3D modeling and printing, the program MATLAB and how to operate different power tools. I enjoyed the hands-on construction experience and the conversations we had working alongside our professors every day. This experience has helped me be more confident in applying for graduate school. It has also convinced me to try participating in more research during my time here at Princeton as an undergraduate student.



Internship Year

2023

Project Category

Innovation and a New Energy Future

Organization(s)

Creative and Resilient Urban Engineering (CRUE) and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) Research Groups, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University - Princeton, New Jersey

Mentor(s)

Maria Garlock, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University; Branko Glisic, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University; Antonio Navarro-Manso, Associate Professor, University of Oviedo