Performance of Hurricane-Resistant Housing during the 2022 Arabi, Louisiana, Tornado
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 5
Abstract
Mitigating tornado damage remains a critical challenge for communities throughout much of the United States. Enhanced construction techniques typically used in hurricane-prone regions are often recommended as at least part of the solution, but the effectiveness of these techniques lacks empirical evaluation. This study investigates the performance of modern wood-frame residential structures in Arabi, LA, constructed to hurricane-resistant standards, that were impacted by a strong tornado on March 22, 2022. Field teams deployed beginning March 25, 2022, just three days after the tornado touched down, capturing perishable data on the building performance using vehicle-mounted surface-level panoramic cameras, forensic engineering investigations, and unmanned aerial systems. This paper describes the field deployments and identifies common failure mechanisms observed by the field teams. Analytical fragility functions are developed based on the load path observations and compared to empirical fragility functions generated from linking the building performance observations with wind speed estimates at each building derived from a parametric wind field model conditioned to tree-fall patterns. The study finds that despite the frequent use of hurricane-resistant hardware, such as hurricane straps and anchor bolts, key weak links elsewhere in the load path compromised the resistance and led to premature failures. The agreement between the empirically- and analytically-derived fragility functions was lacking, demonstrating the challenges that remain in understanding near-surface tornado wind loading and structural response. Nonetheless, the study provides a consensus framework for future tornado assessments that can help improve our understanding of tornado loading through the utilization of reconnaissance data. Further, the study findings on deficiencies in the load paths of homes in hurricane-prone regions have practical value to risk assessments and future construction practices.
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Data Availability Statement
All data and code generated or used during the study are available in the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure DesignSafe platform in accordance with funder data retention policies. (PRJ-3443, doi: https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2-pdfb-d686).
Acknowledgments
This work was sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation under grant CAREER-1944149 and research grants CMMI-1841667 and 2103550. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The work was also partially funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through Grant Nos. NA19OAR4590213, NA19OAR4590212, and NA19OAR4590214. The authors acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of the following undergraduate students who served as Data Librarians in curating the reconnaissance data: Hannah Bartels, Morgan Aldridge, Andrew Golson, Fox Harris, JD Holt, and Cason Stevens. The authors also gratefully acknowledge Daphne LaDue (University of Oklahoma) for assisting with the field reconnaissance, and specifically engaging homeowners to facilitate access to the interior of homes for more detailed load path assessments. And finally, we gratefully acknowledge the homeowners and their willingness to support the study despite the recent impacts.
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Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 150 • Issue 5 • May 2024
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Received: Jul 14, 2023
Accepted: Nov 13, 2023
Published online: Feb 20, 2024
Published in print: May 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jul 20, 2024
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