Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities

Hurricane Charley was the first Category 4 hurricane to strike Florida after 1992. This paper presents results of a study to investigate the performance of 425 of 747 roofs of new homes in Punta Gorda Isles, a subdivision of Punta Gorda that was directly in the path of Hurricane Charley shortly after it made landfall. The homes examined were larger, concrete/clay tiled roof homes having irregular floor plans and complex roof configurations not explicitly addressed by prevailing wind load codes. Roof damage was evaluated using images from aerial photographs taken at an elevation of approximately $762\mathrm{m}(\mathrm{2,500}\mathrm{ft}.)$ Specialized software was used to quantify damage. Damage was classified based on tile loss area. The study showed that the vast majority of the roofs were either undamaged or sustained minor damage. Fewer than 14% were classified as damaged. The most common observed tile loss was along ridges, corners, or in the hip zone where negative uplift pressures are recognized to be the highest. Given the modest observed damage, prevailing methods for estimating wind loads for irregular buildings specified in codes may be adequate. Problems encountered may be best resolved through new details for attaching tiles on ridges, corners, and hip zone.

The costliest natural disaster in U.S. history was Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall on August 29, 2005 at 7:10 a.m. EDT (6:10 CDT, local time) in Plaquemines Parrish, La. Tragically, Katrina caused widespread damage and loss of life but also provided an opportunity to collect data on wood-frame construction which will be useful for design engineers and building code officials in order to design safer and stronger buildings in the future. The objective of this study was to gather and process perishable wind damage data on residential wood-frame structures in nonflooded regions of Mississippi that can be used by the research and design code development community to improve the performance of wood-frame structures to strong wind loading. This study consisted of 3 days of data acquisition of wind damage to wood-frame structures along the U.S. Gulf Coast and was funded by the National Science Foundation. A total of 27 case studies, ranging from entire subdivisions to individual wood-frame structures, were examined in detail. This paper presents both general and specific observations during data reconnaissance. It was generally found that most residential wood-frame construction in the regions inspected are built using conventional construction practices, when engineered or prescriptive construction should be used. The paper is divided into (1) structural; (2) nonstructural; and (3) general observations.

The loads associated with Hurricane Katrina led to the destruction or severe damage of approximately 130,000 homes and over 200 deaths in the state of Mississippi. This paper discusses the results of a field inspection of structural damage along the state’s Gulf Coast area caused by this hurricane. It was found that reinforced concrete, steel frame, and heavy timber structures generally performed well, with minimal structural damage. Precast concrete, light frame wood, and bridge structures generally performed poorly. Nonstructural components of all building types, in particular facades and interior partitions subjected to storm surge, were typically destroyed. For various structures, the primary cause of failure was found to be insufficient connection strength. A comparison of Katrina’s storm surge and wind loads is made to those specified in current design standards. It was found that Katrina’s forces exceeded those specified in design standards in many parts of the state.

This paper reports on the effects of the great Sumatra earthquake and tsunami of December 26, 2004, in and around Port Blair, the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. The earthquake shaking and subsequent tsunami caused substantial damage to structures that include buildings, harbors, overhead water tanks, seaport control towers, and so on. Other important structures, for example, dams, bridges, hangars, and so on, also suffered minor damage without disrupting their functioning. Reinforced concrete structures on the islands were the worst performers, while traditionally constructed timber and masonry structures performed well in response to ground shaking. The mandatory Indian Standards were not complied within the design of many recent structures on the islands located in the most severe seismic zone in India.

A procedure for assessment of bridge expansion joints making use of long-term monitoring data is presented in this paper. Based on the measurement data of expansion joint displacement and bridge temperature, the normal correlation pattern between the effective temperature and thermal movement is first established. Alarms will be raised if a future pattern deviates from this normal pattern. With the established correlation pattern, the expansion joint displacements under the design maximum and minimum temperatures are predicted and compared with the design allowable values for validation. The extreme temperatures for a certain return period are also derived using the measurement data for design verification. Then the annual or daily-average cumulative movements experienced by expansion joints are estimated from the monitoring data for comparison with the expected values in design. Because the service life and interval for replacement of expansion joints rely to a great extent on the cumulative displacements, an accurate prediction of the cumulative displacements will provide a robust basis for determining a reasonable interval for inspection or replacement of expansion joints. The proposed procedure is applied to the assessment of expansion joints in the cable-stayed Ting Kau Bridge with the use of one-year monitoring data.

Steam generator replacement at nuclear power plants requires large construction openings in nuclear containment structures. This study examines the effects of such openings placed in a $61\mathrm{cm}$ $\left(2\mathrm{ft}\right)$ thick dome of a shield building. The dome is cast in two layers, and the limiting cases of the two layers acting as one and the lower layer carrying the entire load are considered. Without openings, the stresses due to dead load in the structure are very low when compared to the material strength. With openings, the loads are easily redistributed around the opening, and the maximum stresses for the conservative case are between three and four and one-half times larger than in the original structure with no openings. The extent of the affected area around the holes is relatively small. Smooth corners in the openings are necessary to avoid high local stress concentrations.

This paper presents an historical survey of the basis for design wind pressure used by $19\mathrm{th}$ and early $20\mathrm{th}$ century engineers. Events significant to the development of current wind design standards for pedestrian bridges are explored. These include 19th century treatments of wind load, a review of bridge disasters that spurred new thinking, and historical developments of today’s standards.

A methodology for remaining life assessment of reinforced concrete bridge girders affected by chloride-induced corrosion of reinforcement is proposed. The uncertainties in the values of the parameters characterizing the environment and, the variables affecting the time to corrosion initiation, and the rate of corrosion propagation are taken into account by treating them as fuzzy variables. The usefulness of the proposed methodology is illustrated through a case study, by comparing the times to reach different damage levels for a severely distressed beam, of Rocky Point Viaduct, determined using the proposed methodology with the observations from the field investigations. It is noted that the predicted times are in satisfactory agreement with the reported values. Hence, the methodology will be useful for the scheduling of inspections for reinforced concrete girders subjected to chloride-induced corrosion of reinforcement.

Polymer liners cast within damaged sewer pipes are commonly used in rehabilitation without the disruption associated with conventional trench excavation and pipe replacement. Linear stability depends on both the thickness of the liner, and any out-of-roundness (ovality or other shape imperfections). Field trials of four cast-in-place liner systems permitted samples to be exhumed and inspected. Measurements of liner thickness and out-of-roundness are presented, for use by researchers and others seeking to establish the stability of these pipe repairs. Significant variations in thickness were observed. These took the form of wavelike increases in local thickness. For all four types of lining systems, the maximum thickness was more than double the average thickness, and up to three times thicker than the minimum thickness values. Higher frequency thickness variations were also superimposed on those wavelike changes in wall dimension. Liner ovality of up to 10% was also observed due to ovality in the clay sewer pipes being repaired, even though those pipes were not fractured longitudinally. Postconstruction inspection of liners ideally includes assessment of liner thickness. Wavelike increases in liner thickness might be estimated, where these lead to intrusions into the waterway. However, irregularities on the external surface of the liner or long wavelength thickness variations would be impossible to detect from video inspection alone, and new inspection techniques are likely need to be developed to ensure the installed liner performs successfully over its design life.