Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations to Predict Wind-Induced Damage to a Steel Building during Hurricane Katrina

A low-rise, sloped-roof, steel storage building located on a canal between downtown New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain experienced wall failures at two corners during Hurricane Katrina. At both locations the walls were blown outward. The insurance company asserted that the damage was caused by water, and not wind, and denied the claim. A modeling study was undertaken to investigate whether the strong winds could explain the damage. Because wind observations were not available at the height of the storm, the mesoscale meteorological model MM5 was used to estimate wind directions and peak wind speeds at the building. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model FLUENT was applied to simulate wind fields and pressure forces on the storage building. The only two areas on the building walls with predicted strong outward pressures coincided exactly with the two areas of blowout damage. Calculations from structural engineers confirmed that these wind-induced pressure forces would have been sufficient to cause the observed damage. The study demonstrated the usefulness of CFD modeling in reproducing wind damage to structures during strong wind conditions.