RAPID: Collection of Perishable Data on Wood-Frame Building Failure Mechanisms During the 2011 Tuscaloosa Alabama Tornado

这项研究的目的是收集和存档结构系统的易腐烂损坏数据，以确定2011年4月27日星期三塔斯卡卢萨AL龙卷风过后木质住宅的失效机制。该项目将研究龙卷风中的建筑破坏模式，龙卷风给许多现有的住宅结构造成了灾难性的损失。由结构工程系、木材科学家和学生组成的多所大学的志愿者团队将在龙卷风？S的破坏路径上进行法医调查。主要的研究假设是，对住宅木结构实施类似于飓风易发地区采用的结构改进，是否也能改善龙卷风易发地区的住房。数据收集方法将包括主动和被动收集方法，这些方法将确定结构破坏水平，并绘制显示整个龙卷风路径最大力水平的大致损害等高线。这些观测将有助于对龙卷风力量空间特征的新认识。结构失效将被分类为构件失效或连接失效，并将记录每种类型(特别是屋顶到墙的连接)的流行程度。测量的破坏模式将揭示可见碎片云直径与地面极高吸力条带之间的关系。该项目将产生1)可公开获得的住宅建筑损坏等级和失效机制数据库，可供工程研究团体随时使用；2)龙卷风路径内损坏强度分布(EF-Scale)的估计。这些结果是评估龙卷风造成的社区脆弱性的基本现场数据集，也是为适应龙卷风的住房制定现实翻新技术的支助数据。参与该项目的研究生还将获得独特的风工程教育经验。

The objective of the research is to collect and archive perishable damage data on structural systems to determine failure mechanisms in wood residential buildings following the Wednesday, April 27 2011 Tuscaloosa, AL tornado. The project will study the building damage patterns in a tornado that caused catastrophic loss to many existing residential structures. A multi-university team of volunteers, consisting of structural engineering faculty, wood scientists and students will conduct forensic investigations throughout the tornado?s damage path. The main research hypothesis is whether implementing structural improvements similar to those adopted in hurricane-prone regions for residential wood structures can also improve housing in tornado-prone regions. The data collection methodology will include both active and passive collection methods, which will establish the level of structural damage and develop general contours of damage showing the maximum force levels throughout the tornado track.These observations will contribute new knowledge on spatial characteristics of tornado force. Structural failures will be categorized into member failure or connection failure, and the prevalence of each type (particularly of roof-to-wall-connection) will be documented. The surveyed damage pattern will reveal the relationship between the visible debris cloud diameter and the swath of extreme high suction on the ground. The project will yield 1) a publicly-available database of residential buildings damage ratings and failure mechanisms that can readily be used by the engineering research community and 2) an estimation of damage intensity distribution (EF-scale) within the tornado track. These results are essential field dataset for evaluating community vulnerability from tornadoes and as support data for developing realistic retrofit techniques for tornado-resilient housing. The graduate students working on this project will also be exposed to unique educational experience in wind engineering.