Researchers at Colorado State University Release New Data on Structural Engineering (Combined Wind-wave-surge Hurricane-induced Damage Prediction for Buildings)

2019 JUN 14 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Engineering Daily News -- Current study results on Engineering - Structural Engineering have been published. According to news reporting originating from Fort Collins, United States, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Coastal structures are subjected to multihazard events such as hurricanes which consist of hurricane-induced surge and waves as well as winds. Hurricanes are a common natural hazard in the United States and cause considerable damage every year, with resulting annualized losses in the United States in the tens of billions of dollars.”

Financial supporters for this research include National Science Foundation (NSF), NIST, Colorado State University.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Colorado State University, “Although improvements in construction practices have been notable over time for individual hazards, there is still a dearth of risk and damage prediction methods in the area of multiple hazards that are based on principles of mechanics. In this study, a methodology to develop multihazard damage fragilities is summarized and illustrated for a wood-frame residential-building archetype subjected to hurricane winds, storm surge, and waves. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) requires new buildings along the US coastline to be constructed with the first finished floor set at an elevation that exceeds a minimum necessary elevation. Therefore, two different elevations are considered for the lowest horizontal structural member of the archetype to also examine its effect on damage fragilities. The developed multihazard fragilities are used to calculate the time-dependent probability of each damage state at a given location over the timeframe of an event, i.e.,hurricane. In this regard, the spatial and temporal data of wind speeds, flood depths, and significant wave heights for Hurricane Ike are simulated by the ADCIRC + SWAN model (a tightly coupled version of the ADvanced CIRCulation model and the Simulating WAves Nearshore model for simulating the propagation of storm surge and waves from deep water to the coastal region).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The performance of nonelevated and elevated archetypes is examined at different locations in southeast Texas for Hurricane Ike and a scenario of damage states predicted for this area for the elevated archetype.”

For more information on this research see: Combined Wind-wave-surge Hurricane-induced Damage Prediction for Buildings. Journal of Structural Engineering, 2019;145(1):. Journal of Structural Engineering can be contacted at: Asce-Amer Soc Civil Engineers, 1801 Alexander Bell Dr, Reston, VA 20191-4400, USA. (American Society of Civil Engineers - www.asce.org; Journal of Structural Engineering - http://ascelibrary.org/sto)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting J.W. van de Lindt, Colorado State University, Infrastruct, Fort Collins, CO 80523, United States. Additional authors for this research include H. Masoomi, M.R. Ameri, T.Q. Do and B.M. Webb.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1061/%28ASCE%29ST.1943-541X.0002241. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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