Risk and fragility assessment of residential wooden buildings subject to hurricane winds

• Published in: Structural safety Vol. 94; p. 102137
• Main Authors: Abdelhady, Ahmed U., Spence, Seymour M.J., McCormick, Jason
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2022; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Building components; Buildings; Construction; Damage; Debris; Fragility; Fragility analysis; Hurricanes; Methodology; Performance assessment; Residential areas; Residential buildings; Residential communities; Residential-wooden buildings; Risk assessment; Shielding; Storm damage; Vulnerability models; Wind pressure; Windborne debris damage; Windborne debris damage; Vulnerability models; Residential-wooden buildings; Fragility analysis; Performance assessment; Risk assessment
• DOI: 10.1016/j.strusafe.2021.102137
• ISSN: 0167-4730

Hurricanes are one of the major causes of damage and loss to residential wooden buildings in the United States. The study of hurricane-imposed risks to residential wooden buildings is, therefore, a fundamental step to mitigate these damages and losses. Within this context, a probabilistic methodology is provided for the fragility analysis of residential wooden buildings. Two damage mechanisms are considered in this methodology, excessive dynamic wind pressure and impact from windborne debris. Unlike existing frameworks, the methodology defines the geometric configuration as well as the required extension of the neighboring buildings to estimate the damage from both mechanisms. A case study illustrates the methodology on residential communities composed of archetype gable-roof buildings. Ten construction cases are defined to cover a range of resistances of building components for both considered damage mechanisms. Three floor-area ratios (FAR) are also considered. The resulting fragility curves highlight: (1) the effect of the FAR on enhancing the performance of residential buildings due to the effect of shielding; and (2) the significance of windborne debris in increasing the estimated hurricane risk. The estimated fragility curves can be used to directly model residential buildings in community resilience frameworks. •A methodology for the risk and fragility analysis of wooden buildings is presented.•Damage from windborne debris is considered in the developed methodology.•Fragility curves for archetype gable-roof buildings are presented.•The significance of windborne debris and floor-area ratio are highlighted.•The estimated fragility curves can be used in community resilience frameworks.