Publication Date

Fall 2020

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Fatemeh Orooji (Director), Asghar Rezasoltani, and Shahnaz Aly

Degree Program

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Degree Type

Master of Science

Abstract

While storms worsen and damage to homes increases, limited information is available about mitigations that are effective in lessening damage to homes and/or buildings. Information on past storms exists within FEMA’s Hazus-MH application, but the information provided by the data within the Hazus-MH application, while very informative on its own, was decidedly more precise and useful when optimized to provide defined information to those responsible for determining building codes or regulations for homes.

The research available from Hazus-MH details results from past storms categorized by building type, mitigations, and intensity of disaster. The data can be used to simulate storm conditions and determine effectiveness of differing mitigations under different circumstances. This research focused on wind damage costs, and therefore, only used the information from Hazus-MH related to these issues, such as hurricane related data. The research also looked at several optimization methods and how the methods could be used to find reliable answers as to which mitigations are best for wind damage. Although many optimization methods were examined for their strengths and weaknesses, the Pareto Optimization method was ultimately chosen because of the limited number of parameters to be used in the research and the ease of use. The only parameters considered for this research were limited to wind speeds of 180mph and the 160 home configurations listed in Hazus’ WSF1 data. The results of this research will prove invaluable for saving money, structures and lives by providing clear-cut information on which mitigations are most worthwhile and reliable.

Disciplines

Other Engineering | Risk Analysis | Structural Engineering

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