NSF I-Corps Teams: Innovative Hurricane Damage Mitigation Systems

飓风对建筑物造成的很大一部分破坏是由于屋顶和墙壁之间的连接薄弱造成的。创新连接系统是建筑建设中的一个重点研究课题，在飓风易发地区新建和改造既有建筑时都需要认真考虑。这个I-Corps项目将有助于确定木框架结构的创新、高效和非侵入式屋顶到墙壁连接的商业可行性。新的连接系统将具有重要的实际应用，通过最小侵入技术提供快速、经济有效的改造手段，提高沿海住宅建筑的飓风恢复能力。拟议的项目将符合国家利益，因为新技术可以显著提高建筑环境的可持续性和飓风复原社区的发展，从而有助于提高美国沿海地区的经济竞争力。与工业界的战略联盟和以市场为导向的综合办法将有助于这些技术的商业化。通过快速的技术转让和产品商业化，简化的从研究到市场的过程有可能通过减少对生命的风险和在美国沿海各州培养新公司来促进国家的繁荣和福祉，这需要熟练的劳动力，从而创造新的就业机会。这个I-Corps团队项目的范围是展示对先前资助的NSF项目开发的技术进行转换的准备情况。过去的研究和实验表明，传统的硬件类型，侵入式屋顶到墙壁连接（例如飓风夹，脚钉连接）的性能可能是极端风事件（例如飓风）中严重的建筑安全问题的原因。为了消除这些问题，一种适用于住宅木结构建筑的创新的屋顶到墙壁连接系统被开发出来。该方法是使用高性能纤维增强聚合物（FRP）材料的条带，涂上高强度粘合剂，以创建从屋顶到墙壁的有效载荷路径。这种连接具有成本效益、轻便、坚固和非侵入性，适用于新建筑，也适用于需要用最小侵入技术加强抵御极端风荷载的现有建筑的改造。连接的强度由纤维复合材料的高抗拉强度提供。该系统的非侵入性消除了水渗透问题和连接构件的强度退化。这项新技术有可能为实现具有飓风抗灾能力的社区和推进最先进的飓风减灾技术做出重大贡献。

A significant proportion of damage to buildings in hurricanes occurs owing to weak connections between the roof and the walls. Innovative connection system is a high priority research topic in building construction and needs careful consideration for new construction as well as for retrofitting existing buildings in hurricane-prone areas. This I-Corps project will help determine the commercial viability of an innovative, efficient, and nonintrusive roof-to-wall connection for wood-frame structures. The new connection system will have significant practical applications in improving the hurricane resiliency of coastal residential buildings by providing means for rapid, cost-effective retrofits through minimally intrusive techniques. The proposed project will serve the national interest as the new technology can significantly enhance built environment sustainability and development of hurricane-resilient communities, thus contributing to greater economic competitiveness of the U.S. coastal region. Strategic alliances with industry and an integrated market-driven approach will help to commercialize such technologies. Streamlined research-to-market process with expeditious technology transfer and commercialization of products has the potential for advancing the national prosperity and welfare by reducing risk to life and fostering new companies in the U.S. coastal states, requiring a skilled workforce, thus creating new jobs. The scope of this I-Corps team project is to demonstrate the readiness to transition a technology that has been developed by previously-funded NSF project. Past studies and experiments have revealed that the performance of traditional hardware-type, intrusive roof-to-wall connections (e.g. hurricane clips, toe-nail connections) can be the cause of serious building safety problems in extreme wind events (e.g. hurricanes). To eliminate these problems an innovative roof-to-wall connection system applicable to residential wood buildings has been developed. The methodology is to use strips of high-performance fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) materials applied with high-strength adhesives to create an effective load path from the roof through the walls. The connection is cost-effective, light, strong, and non-intrusive, and is applicable to new construction as well as for retrofitting of existing buildings that require strengthening against extreme wind loads with minimally intrusive techniques. The strength of the connection is provided by the high tensile strength of the fiber composites. The non-intrusiveness of the system eliminates water-infiltration problems and the strength degradation of the members being connected. The new technology has the potential for significantly contributing to achieving hurricane resilient communities and advancing the state-of-the-art in hurricane damage mitigation.