Personalized Vulnerability Assessment of Customized Low-Rise Wood-Frame Residential Structures under Hurricane Wind Loads: A Flexible Scenario-Based Simulation Approach
Publication: ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering
Volume 9, Issue 3
Abstract
Hurricanes are one of the costliest and deadliest weather and climate disasters that impact the United States, largely affecting the residential sector. Residential structures are essential for the health and safety of the community during a hurricane event. However, homeowners typically have to rely on general information and instructions to understand their level of risks. The knowledge of structural vulnerability to hurricanes at the individual residential building level is often limited, which hinders personalized disaster preparation and mitigation decision-making. To this end, a vulnerability assessment method is proposed for individual homeowners to create customized finite-element models that quantify wind damage of low-rise wood-frame residential structures under various scenarios using ANSYS 2020 R1 parametric design language. A case study was conducted to test the proposed methodology and investigate prevailing failure modes under different structural characteristics and wind scenarios. Specifically, the impacts of roof framing features and previous exposure to environmental conditions on the potential damage of residential buildings under hurricane wind loads were studied. Analysis results, including the percentage of failed sheathing, nailed connections and framing members, are used to inform personalized mitigation recommendations. The proposed customized vulnerability assessment may increase homeowners’ situational awareness of disasters and promote rational retrofitting decisions.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors greatly acknowledge the financial support provided by the US Department of Education Graduate Assistance in Area of National Need (GAANN) fellowship. The authors also extend their sincere thanks to Dr. Wei Zhang and Zhixia Ding from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at University of Connecticut for their invaluable help and advice during this study.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering
Volume 9 • Issue 3 • September 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 16, 2022
Accepted: Feb 25, 2023
Published online: Jun 16, 2023
Published in print: Sep 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Nov 16, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Buildings
- Continuum mechanics
- Disaster risk management
- Disasters and hazards
- Dynamic loads
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Finite element method
- Frames
- Hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones
- Low-rise buildings
- Methodology (by type)
- Natural disasters
- Numerical methods
- Residential buildings
- Solid mechanics
- Structural dynamics
- Structural engineering
- Structural members
- Structural systems
- Structures (by type)
- Wind loads
- Wood frames
- Wood structures
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Cited by
- Brandon M. Rittelmeyer, David B. Roueche, Probabilistic wind uplift resistance framework for the relative evaluation of wood-frame load paths, Engineering Structures, 10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.116984, 298, (116984), (2024).