Undergraduate Research Experience (REU), NHERI 2018: Scaling Wave Impact on Light-Frame Wood Residences

The 2017 hurricane season caused six major hurricanes, directly affecting the 70 million people living in hurricane-prone areas (Greenough et al., 2001). Many studies have been conducted in an attempt to better understand the forces of these natural hazards on coastal residences and provide better design methods, however most of these studies have included a pressure valve and converted those pressures into forces (Garcia, 2008). A study at Oregon State University’s Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory has been conducted which includes the construction and wave testing of a light-frame wood structure built at a 1/6th scale. This paper aims to analyze the accuracy of the scaled down specimen’s structural behavior compared to that of a full-size residence of the same layout. The base comparison is made using a SAP2000 model with the same material properties of the specimen. Additionally, individual wall panels were tested to estimate the structural stiffness of the entire specimen. The experiments conducted on the specimen include wave testing in a Large Wave Flume, a dry free vibration test, and a dry force-displacement test. The accuracy of the specimen’s construction and design is analyzed using a combination of these static and dynamic properties.