Effects of roof geometry on tornado-induced structural actions of a low-rise building

Continued loss of property and lives in tornadoes including the 23-person death toll resulting from Lee County AL tornado on March 3rd 2019 reflects ever-present vulnerability community to tornadoes, necessitates improvement building standards for more accurately predicting such extreme loads. This article investigates effects three roof geometries: flat, gable, hip, maximum overall local wind-induced uplift, shear moment low-rise buildings by a translating tornado. To explore structural actions, five frames along longer horizontal dimension each were considered. Maximum independent orientation its distance center tornado-track calculated, with results showing that flat experiences largest amount shear, moment. Only shears hip equal or larger than those same frame locations. study also showed gable experience moments similar magnitudes, whereas performs better against uplift. Experimentally-calculated actions compared predictions ASCE7-16, ASCE7-16 under-predicts uplifts, moments, while over-predicts all geometries. The under-prediction uplifts using ASCE7-16′s procedure 41% 55%, respectively, both building. Internal experienced which makes them vulnerable location are built compliance standard. Finally, correction factors introduced modify improve accuracy prediction different