Wind-Induced Hazard Assessment for Low-Rise Building Envelope Considering Potential Openings

Abstract

The light-frame low-rise buildings widely used for residential and industrial purposes are very vulnerable to high winds. Postdisaster surveys indicated that envelope components such as windows, doors, and roof sheathings suffer significant damages due to wind loads and windborne debris. Typically, the wind-induced damage process for a low-rise building is progressive with stochastic openings on the envelope. In this study, this progressive damage process is simplified as three stages, i.e., the nominally sealed building with background leakage, the partially enclosed building with multiple openings on walls, and the loss of roof sheathings. Based on this aforementioned three-stage process, a probabilistic wind-induced hazard assessment framework for the light-frame low-rise building envelope is developed. Specifically, two approaches, including the Monte Carlo simulation–based approach and the law of the total probability–based approach, are developed for hazard assessments of roof sheathings with the consideration of all potential opening conditions. A numerical example is adopted to illustrate the proposed framework. Results show that these two approaches assessing the wind-induced hazard for a low-rise building envelope are in good agreement, and the latter approach has an efficiency advantage.