Hurricane Mitigation of the Florida House Learning Center

The present study aims at investigating the applicability of the Florida Building Code (FBC) wind provisions and demonstrating benefits of the shuttering on the openings in the Florida House Learning Center, a unique demonstration structure with a large number of windows and sliding glass doors. The wind analysis of the building was performed according to the FBC on the currently existing structure with no hurricane shutters and on the strengthened structure with hurricane shutters added to all openings. It was found that wind pressures on walls and roofs for the unshuttered Florida House structure decreased by 0–95% due to the addition of hurricane shuttering. The reduction of the design forces for wall studs, anchor bolts, and uplift varies from 0 to 38% due to the addition of shutters. The only reason for wind pressure differences on the shuttered and unshuttered Florida House structure was the difference between the internal pressures on the “enclosed” and “partially enclosed” buildings, respectively. The significant hurricane mitigation effects of hurricane shutters on the Florida House hurricane vulnerability is demonstrated through the comparison of wind analysis between the shuttered and unshuttered structure.