There are about 80 million single-family dwellings (SFD) in the United States,
predominantly of wood-frame construction. Of these, 68% are owner occupied. A home is
typically the largest single investment of a family, and is often not covered by earthquake
insurance, even where it is available. Of all the houses...
The absence of tsunami load provisions in coastal infrastructure design has led to unchecked resistance capacity of bridges against
one of the most eminent natural hazards on the U.S. west coast. The Spencer Creek Bridge, which was completely rebuilt on the Oregon coast in
2009, is a unique example to...
Tsunami inundation of coastal communities can impose a wide array of forces on the
built environment. Forces generated by tsunami-driven debris damming have the potential to
cause failure of coastal structures and further accumulate flow-entrained debris. Since tsunami-resilient design standards were adopted by ASCE in 2016, debris damming considerations have...
In the 1990s, Bartlett and Youd introduced empirical equations for predicting
horizontal displacement from liquefaction-induced lateral spreading; these equations have
become popular in engineering practice. The equations were developed by multilinear
regression (MLR) of lateral spreading case history data compiled by these researchers. In 2002,
these equations were revised and...
This paper presents a case study on the application of a dynamic framework for the intelligent
control of flooding in the Boise River system in Idaho. This framework couples a robust
and numerically efficient hydraulic routing approach with the popular multi-objective Non-dominated
Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). The novelty of...
In the summer of 2009, a full-scale midrise wood-frame building was tested under a series of simulated earthquakes on the world's largest shake table in Miki City, Japan. The objective of this series of tests was to validate a performance-based seismic design approach by qualitatively and quantitatively examining the building's...
The objective of this project was to evaluate system effects and further define load paths within a light-frame wood structure under extreme wind events. The three-dimensional 30- by 40-ft (9.1- by 12.2-m) building, designed to be representative of typical light-frame wood construction in the southeastern coastal region of the United...
Mass timber is emerging as a viable form of construction around the world in new markets for wood buildings. The entrance into these markets has driven the demand for more knowledge to enable designs alongside other structural materials such as steel and reinforced concrete.
Large, in-plane tests on cross-laminated timber...
The objective of this study was to develop and validate practical modeling methods for investigating load paths and system behavior in a realistic, light-frame wood structure. The modeling methods were validated against full-scale tests on sub-assemblies and an L-shaped house. The model of the L-shaped house was then modified and...
The overall goal of this project was to design a wood frame shear wall that could withstand greater displacement before damage occurred to the gypsum wall board (GWB). A total of 14 shear walls consisting of seven different designs with two walls built per design were tested to failure. Six...