Eighth Congress on Forensic Engineering
Fragility Assessment of Wind-Induced Residential Building Damage Caused by Hurricane Harvey, 2017
Publication: Forensic Engineering 2018: Forging Forensic Frontiers
ABSTRACT
Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas coastline on August 25, 2017, as a Category 4 hurricane. Wind gusts over 233 km/h and storm surge as high as 3 m caused widespread damage to buildings and critical infrastructure in coastal communities including Rockport, Fulton, Port Aransas, and Aransas Pass. Over a 12-day survey period, a study team led by the authors assessed the performance of more than 1,000 individual, geo-located residential buildings. This study presents an initial evaluation of empirical wind fragility functions for single-family residential structures impacted by Hurricane Harvey. The fragility functions are constructed using 3-second gust wind speeds adjusted by local ground surface roughness as the demand parameter. The analysis finds that the local terrain is a significant factor in determining the level of damage for structures. High variability is observed in the wind speed to damage relationship.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1759996, the Center for Disaster Resilience at the University of Maryland at College Park, and an Advance Queensland Fellowship. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The authors would further like to acknowledge the many students who assisted in collecting and processing the field data on building performance, and the many colleagues who shared data, findings and resources that were invaluable to the authors’ efforts.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Forensic Engineering 2018: Forging Forensic Frontiers
Pages: 1039 - 1048
Editors: Rui Liu, Ph.D., Kent State University, Michael P. Lester, Element Analytical, Alicia E. Díaz de León, and Michael J. Drerup
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8201-8
Copyright
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Nov 27, 2018
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