Esper, Sarah;
D'Ayala, Dina;
(2025)
Finite element analysis of low-rise non-engineered timber residential
buildings in Dominica under hurricane loads.
Engineering Structures
, 340
, Article 120649. 10.1016/j.engstruct.2025.120649.
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Abstract
This study identifies the most common residential building typologies in Dominica, to analyse their structural response to hurricane loading. A detailed field survey was developed to undertake structural inspections of over 60 Dominica’s low-rise, non-engineered residential buildings. The data was examined to build a representative prototype model of a typical timber residential building typology of high wind fragility. This typology refers to existing elevated timber buildings with lightweight hip roofs. An iterative process is developed to build the prototype model to analyse its structural response to wind loading applied in a quasi-static manner and calculated according to equations in ASCE 7–22. The numerical analysis is undertaken using the commercial software SAP2000. With connection details, frame element sizes and spacing for the prototype building falling short of existing building guidelines, the frame elements’ nailed connections are expected to experience pull-out or slip failure before the building envelope is breached. The wind loading is directed toward the front of the building. It considers both positive and negative internal pressure, with the former leading to failure for lower wind speed. The inclusion of bracing elements at building corners reduces elastic lateral displacements; however, it also slightly reduces the wind speed at which the onset of failure occurs. A sensitivity analysis explores the stiffening effect of roof and wall sheathing, by varying the translational constraints at the building corners, which is shown to affect the speed at which failure is initiated and the failure mode.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Finite element analysis of low-rise non-engineered timber residential buildings in Dominica under hurricane loads |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.engstruct.2025.120649 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2025.120649 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s), 2025. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Residential buildings, Caribbean, Wind loads, Timber building modelling, Hurricane loads |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Civil, Environ and Geomatic Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10217277 |
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