Predictions of Damage to Timber-Framed Houses. I: Seismic Performance of Wood-Framed Houses Located on Slopes
Abstract
This is the first in a set of companion papers that seek to compare homeowners’ expectations and engineering predictions of damage to timber-framed houses before and after undertaking seismic structural strengthening. By combining social and engineering sciences, this multidisciplinary and innovative research contributes to ongoing work on building resilient communities. Part I analyzes the seismic vulnerability of wooden-framed houses located on slopes in the Wellington Region, New Zealand. Data collected using a structural survey in Wellington was used to define common structural parameters in wood-framed houses—slope, plan shape orientation relative to the slope, and wall distribution—and evaluate the influence these parameters have on the levels of earthquake damage. Data from the survey was used to develop a set of representative case-study houses which were modeled using validated nonlinear analysis techniques. The models were subjected to a suite of site-specific ground motions at a range of expected seismic hazards in Wellington, and damage was estimated using based on the maximum drifts recorded at the floor and roof level, and torsion ratio between up and downslope displacement. The results of this paper, Part I, demonstrated a high correlation between damage—measured as torsion and large interstory drifts—and the plan-shape orientation of the houses relative to the slope, while the correlation between damage and both slope and superstructure wall distribution was moderate to low. The structural strengthening of houses and the homeowners’ expectations of structural damage are addressed in Part II, the companion paper.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the use of New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) high-performance computing facilities, consulting support, and/or training services as part of this research. New Zealand’s national facilities are provided by NeSI and funded jointly by NeSI’s collaborator institutions and through the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment’s Research Infrastructure program. URL https://www.nesi.org.nz. The authors thank QuakeCoRE, a New Zealand Tertiary Education Commission-funded Center, for funding and supporting the research. This is QuakeCoRE publication number 0803. Finally, the authors thank BRANZ (Building Research Association of New Zealand) for providing the experimental data for the modeling calibration. This research was conducted in accordance with the University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee (UAHPEC: Reference Number 023962).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Natural Hazards Review
Volume 24 • Issue 4 • November 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 29, 2022
Accepted: Jun 2, 2023
Published online: Jul 24, 2023
Published in print: Nov 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Dec 24, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Building materials
- Buildings
- Earthquake engineering
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Frames
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Materials engineering
- Residential buildings
- Seismic effects
- Seismic tests
- Slopes
- Structural behavior
- Structural engineering
- Structural members
- Structural strength
- Structural systems
- Structures (by type)
- Tests (by type)
- Wood and wood products
- Wood frames
- Wood structures
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