Abstract
The Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF5) tornado that hit the city of Moore, Oklahoma on May 13, 2013 caused over $2 billion in damages and tragically claimed the lives of 25 individuals. Briarwood Elementary School and Plaza Tower Elementary School were both subject to extreme damage due to the May 13, 2013 tornado. As a result of this damage seven fatalities occurred at the Plaza Tower Elementary School. This large loss of life and extensive building damage at both schools warranted a forensic engineering investigation. The goal of this investigation was to determine if structural damage and fatalities could have been reduced. To evaluate the failures and failure mechanisms that were observed in both schools, with the purpose of determining structural inadequacies and proposing design, fabrication, and construction practices to create a more robust system. This investigation identified numerous shortcomings that might have reduced the structural damage and potentially the loss of life. The findings of the forensic investigations and a discussion of the structural shortcomings are presented in this paper.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
ACI (American Concrete Institute). 1977. Building code requirements for masonry structures. ACI 530-02/ASCE 5-02/TMS 402-02. Farmington Hills, MI: ACI, ASCE, and TMS.
ACI (American Concrete Institute). 2011. Building code requirements for masonry structures. ACI 530-02/ASCE 5-02/TMS 402-02. Farmington Hills, MI: ACI, ASCE, and TMS.
Claims Journal. 2013. “FEMA: 1, 248 buildings destroyed in Oklahoma tornados.” Accessed May 29, 2013. http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southcentral/2013/05/29/229767.htm.
Graettinger, A., et al. 2014. Tornado damage assessment in the aftermath of the May 20th, 2013 Moore, Oklahoma Tornado. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation.
IBC (International Code Council). 2003. International building code (IBC 2003). Country Club Hills, IL: IBC.
IBHS (Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety). 2012. Evaluating the strength of concrete masonry structures, 3. Richburg, SC: IBHS.
National Weather Service. 2017. “Top ten deadliest Oklahoma tornadoes.” Accessed July 20, 2017. https://www.weather.gov/oun/tornadodata-ok-deadliest.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 3, 2018
Accepted: Jun 1, 2018
Published online: Nov 20, 2018
Published in print: Feb 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Apr 20, 2019
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.