Structural Engineering Research
Research in the Wind Load Test Facility (the Wind Tunnel) focuses on experimental investigations to improve the wind uplift performance of low-rise buildings in severe windstorms. Faculty and students conduct experiments using a 10-ft wide by 7 ft high boundary layer wind tunnel to determine wind loads on model structures. Another research initiative focuses on experimental investigations of structural load paths in residential roofs and the performance of building envelope components.
The Wind Tunnel team also conducts full scale experiments on residential buildings to collect wind pressure and wind speed data from instrumented houses located in the path of hurricanes and tropical storms. Wind engineering research conducted in the Wind Load Test Faciltiy also covers topics such as wind forces on structures other than houses and wind velocities in urban areas.
The Wind Engineering and Structures Laboratory (WESL) supports experimental research related to the performance of buildings, bridges and other structures. Sample research conducted at WESL include evaluation of the performance of roof-to-wall connections under combined cyclic uplift and in-plane shear loads using a computer controlled screw drive actuator simultaneously applies the uplift and shear loads to the roof framing. Other research includes detereming the impact damage to tornado shelters and hurricane shutters from 2x4 missiles traveling at high speeds.
The presence of natural hazards in the United States such as high winds, earthquakes, snow and ice is a reality facing today’s structural engineer. The temporal occurrence and intensity of these hazard events, however, is highly uncertain. This lends motivation for considering these events and their impact on civil structures using a probabilistic framework known as structural reliability.
Current research in the area of structural reliability involves looking at the vulnerability of existing highway bridges subjected to seismic loads. This vulnerabilityis explicitly examined using probabilistic statements of damage known as fragility curves. Fragility curves are then used to facilitate decision making pertaining to loss mitigation activities.
Additional studies include structural reliability of building envelope components (roofing, windows and walls) and its effect on the functionality and evacuation decisions for hospitals located in hurricane-prone regions.
Another focus of research deals with tall reinforced concrete structures. The synergy of advanced nonlinear analysis and large-scale experimentation is utilized to advance the understanding of the behavior and response of tall reinforced concrete structures subjected to extreme loading events such as earthquakes and strong wind. To further the understanding of the lateral systems generally used in tall reinforced concrete structures, large-scale experiments are carried out to evaluate the ductility and hysteretic characteristics of the components and subassemblies common to these structures. Using experimentally-measured responses, advanced nonlinear analysis is used to predict global response of tall reinforced concrete structures through enveloped response resulting from exposure to a suite of previously recorded and/or artificial ground motions.