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Assessment of hurricane wind performance and potential design modifications for informally constructed housing in Puerto Rico

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Abstract

This study assesses the wind performance of various housing typologies representing informal construction practices in Puerto Rico to suggest modifications to enhance housing resilience in hurricanes. Based on fieldwork and interviews, the study defined four base housing typologies and possible variations in design and construction details. Each house was assessed using performance-based static wind analysis of potentially critical components. The results show that the initial governing failure mode in all base house typologies considered is roof panel loss due to tear-through at the fasteners, with subsequent governing failures being panel loss due to failures at the purlin-to-truss connections and failures of the truss-to-wall connections. In-plane wall failures and masonry uplift failures were both found to occur at much higher wind speeds than roof failures. To improve the hurricane performance, several feasible modifications are suggested, including installing hurricane straps at both the truss-to-wall and the purlin-to-truss connections, as well as improving the panel-fastener interface. In the construction of new roofs, this study found that using reduced spacing between roof members, hip roofs instead of gable roofs, and higher roof slopes leads to improved performance. These recommendations can make houses built through informal construction processes safer and more resilient to hurricanes as a form of climate adaptation.

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Data Availability

Detailed results are available from the first author, upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our research assistants, Yarelis González, Juneilis Mulero Oliveras, and Nicolle Teresa Ramos, and also Tracy Kijewski-Correa, Polly Murray, Yesenia Rosario Ramos, and Hailey Rae Rose.

Funding

This study is supported by the US National Science Foundation Award No. 1901808 and a University of Colorado Innovative Seed Grant. The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA

    Meredith Lochhead

  2. Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    Briar Goldwyn, Abbie B. Liel & Amy Javernick-Will

  3. Arup, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Casie Venable

Authors
  1. Meredith Lochhead
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  2. Briar Goldwyn
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  4. Abbie B. Liel
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  5. Amy Javernick-Will
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Contributions

M. Lochhead, C. Venable, and A. Liel led the study concept and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by M. Lochhead, B. Goldwyn, A. Liel, and A. Javernick-Will. The first draft of the manuscript was written by M. Lochhead and B. Goldwyn and all others commented on subsequent versions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abbie B. Liel.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Code Availability

MATLAB code files for wind analysis are available from the first author, upon request.

Ethics Approval

The fieldwork described herein was approved through the University of Colorado IRB.

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Lochhead, M., Goldwyn, B., Venable, C. et al. Assessment of hurricane wind performance and potential design modifications for informally constructed housing in Puerto Rico. Nat Hazards 112, 1165–1189 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-022-05222-0

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