Experimental study and FE analysis of tile roofs under simulated strong wind impact

Abstract

A large number of low-rise buildings experienced serious roof covering failures under strong wind while few suffered structural damage. Clay and concrete tiles are two main kinds of roof covering. For the tile roof system, few researches were carried out based on Finite Element (FE) analysis due to the difficulty in the simulation of the interface between the tiles and the roof sheathing (the bonding materials, foam or mortar). In this paper, the FE analysis of a single clay or concrete tile with foam-set or mortar-set were built with the interface simulated by the equivalent nonlinear springs based on the mechanical uplift and displacement tests, and they were expanded into the whole roof. A detailed wind tunnel test was carried out at Tongji University to acquire the wind loads on these two kinds of roof tiles, and then the test data were fed into the FE analysis. For the purpose of validation and calibration, the results of FE analysis were compared with the full-scale performance of the tile roofs under simulated strong wind impact through one-of-a-kind Wall of Wind (WoW) apparatus at Florida International University. The results are consistent with the WoW test that the roof of concrete tiles with mortar-set provided the highest resistance, and the material defects or improper construction practices are the key factors to induce the roof tiles\' failure. Meanwhile, the staggered setting of concrete tiles would help develop an interlocking mechanism between the tiles and increase their resistance.