Wood-Frame Residential Buildings in Windstorms: Past Performance and New Directions

Abstract

Residential buildings in coastal areas are often at risk to hurricanes, which can result in both wind and storm surge damages, while tornadoes are one of the most devastating natural hazards that have occurred in all 50 states of the USA and can happen during any season of the year. This chapter focuses on summarizing some past studies on the performance of wood-frame residential buildings in recent major hurricanes and tornadoes. Damage data collected from hurricanes shows that in most hurricanes the damage to residential wood-frame buildings often comes from high winds, hurricane surge, flooding, and rainwater intrusion due to damage in the building envelope. Roof systems experienced extensive damage either directly from wind or due to failure of the flashing and coping. Hurricanes are often accompanied by heavy rain that results in substantial water intrusion through the breached area of the building, which in turn results in substantial financial loss to the structure and its contents. On the other hand, data collected from recent tornadoes in Tuscaloosa, Joplin, and Moore show that, for an EF-4 or EF-5 tornado, damage levels increase from the outer edges toward the centerline of a tornado track. Residential building damage in tornados is caused by high wind loading or debris impact, or both. A general procedure for performance-based wind engineering is proposed, and research needs for development of wood-frame performance-based wind engineering are also highlighted in this chapter.