Practical Modeling for Wind Load Paths in a Realistic Light-Frame Wood House

Abstract

Theobjectiveofthisstudywastodevelopandvalidatepracticalmodelingmethodsforinvestigatingloadpathsandsystembehavior inarealisticlight-framewoodstructure.Themodelingmethodswerevalidatedagainstfull-scaletestsonsubassembliesandanL-shapedhouse. The modeloftheL-shapedhousewasthenmodifiedandusedtoinvestigatetheeffectsof reentrantcorners,wall openings,andgable-endretro- fitsonsystembehaviorandloadpaths.Resultsshowedthattheeffectsofaddingreentrantcornersandwallopeningsonupliftloaddistributions were dependenton theorientation of the trusses with respectto thewalls. Openings addedto walls parallel tothe trusses havethe leasteffect on loadscarriedbytheremainingwallsinthebuilding.Varyingreentrantcornerdimensionsunderdesignwindloadscausedincreasingdegreesof torsion throughout the house depending on the relative location and stiffness of the in-plane walls (parallel to the wind loads) and the assumed direction of the wind loads. Balancing the stiffness of the walls on either side of the house with the largest reentrant corner helped to decrease torsion in the structure under lateral loads. Finally, although previous full-scale tests on gable-end sections verified the effectiveness of the gable-end retrofit that was recently adopted into recent Florida building code, questions remained about the effects of the retrofit on torsion in a full building. The current study found that adding the gable-end retrofits to the L-shaped house did not cause additional torsion. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0000448. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers. Author keywords: System behavior; Reentrant corners; Wall openings; Gable-end retrofits.