Performance of Enhanced Residential Building Code Requirements during the March 25, 2015, Moore Tornado
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 31, Issue 5
Abstract
An EF2 (Enhanced Fujita Scale Rating 2) tornado that hit the City of Moore, Oklahoma, on March 25, 2015, provided a rare opportunity for engineers to observe the performance of structures built to the new Moore building code high-wind provisions when subjected to a design-level event. Observations of damage to several residential structures and one commercial building were made in the immediate aftermath of the tornado. These observations were used to compare the performance of the engineered commercial building and residential structures in the same area. The conclusions made from the observations described in this paper are anecdotal and based on a limited amount of data, but indicate that residential structures constructed using the building code improvements made in Moore, Oklahoma, in 2014 perform as expected when subjected to the winds associated with an EF2 tornado. The robust structural system led to only minor damage, which could be quickly repaired.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Allen, S. (2015). “Storm shelter applications increase in Moore, OK, after March 25 tornado.” ⟨http://newsok.com/article/5413604⟩ (Feb. 5, 2016).
Cantrell, R. (2015). “Watch: KFOR captures Moore tornado touching down live.” ⟨http://kfor.com/2015/03/25/watch-live-coverage-as-a-tornado-touches-down-in-moore-oklahoma/⟩ (Feb. 5, 2016).
City of Moore. (2014). “Minimum residential construction highwind resistance regulations.” ⟨http://www.cityofmoore.com/sites/default/files/main-site/high-winds-codes-passed.pdf⟩ (Mar. 17, 2014).
City of Moore. (2015). “Tornado damages Moore—3-25-2015.” ⟨http://www.cityofmoore.com/tornado-damages-moore-3-25-2015⟩ (Feb. 5, 2016).
Dolce, C. (2015). “This graphic shows a remarkable 16-year history of tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma.” ⟨https://weather.com/storms/tornado/news/moore-oklahoma-tornado-paths⟩ (Feb. 1, 2016).
Graettinger, A. J., et al. (2014). “Tornado damage assessment in the aftermath of the May 20th 2013 Moore Oklahoma tornado.”, 133.
ICC (International Code Council). (2009). International residential code (IRC) for one- and two-family dwellings, Country Club Hills, IL.
Lowry, L. (2015). “Storm shelters in Moore tripled since May 2013 tornado.” ⟨http://www.news9.com/story/28709113/storm-shelters-in-moore-tripled-since-may-2013-tornado⟩ (Feb. 5, 2016).
McCarthy, D. W., and Schaefer, J. T. (2004). “Tornado trends over the past 30 years.” 14th Conf. on Applied Climatology, American Meteorological Society, MA, 5.
McDonald, J. R., and Mehta, K. C. (2006). A recommendation for an enhanced Fujita scale (EF-scale), Wind Science and Engineering Center, Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX, 111.
Nuttle, M. (2015). “Tornadoes touch down as severe weather moves through OK.” ⟨http://www.news9.com/story/28616627/tornadoes-touch-down-first-round-of-severe-weather-moves-through-ok⟩ (Feb. 5, 2016).
NWS (National Weather Service). (2015). “Heavy rain and local flooding for portions of the southeast and northeast.” ⟨http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=events-20150325-swokc-moore⟩ (Jan. 31, 2016).
Ramseyer, C., Holliday, L., and Floyd, R. (2015). “Enhanced residential building code for tornado safety.” J. Perform. Constr. Facilities, 04015084.
Storm Prediction Center. (2014). “Storm prediction center WCM page.” ⟨www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm⟩ (Feb. 15, 2017).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 31 • Issue 5 • October 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 6, 2016
Accepted: Mar 3, 2017
Published online: Jun 23, 2017
Published in print: Oct 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Nov 23, 2017
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.