If you live in the tornado alley or just want to save your investments from getting blown away by a twister, here’s some great news.
A researcher at the New Jersey Institute of Technology confirms that certain home shapes resist strong winds and tornadoes better than others.
The goal now is to develop structures that are more resistant to high winds and tornadoes. Even before we can get to the actual problem, we need to realize how badly the structures are threatened by wind and wind blown debris.
The following diagram shows the pattern of wind flow around a building using the CFD models. Following these models one can develop improved structures that are more resistant to strong winds and stormy weather.
NJIT based civil engineer Rima Taher spend a lot of time (2 years) examining construction materials and the designs that are resistant to strong winds.
The wind researchers at the Center for Building Science and Technology (CBST) tested mini models of the houses at the respective wind tunnel in France.
From the French wind tunnel testing, engineer Taher got an idea of the ultimate hurricane proof shelter. According to her, a square floored home with central shaft, and a hip roof will resist the hurricane like winds better.
Taher realized that the roof is the key to the structural integrity in a storm. I think this is very true. If the roof gets blown away by the wind, I am pretty sure that the rest of the home will go too. Taher mentions that the following roof types will hold:
* the more slanted the roof the more storm proof it will be.
*30 degree roofs are more resistant.
Also, in order to prevent the water from entering the house during hurricane conditions, an elevated home helps a lot. So water won’t be able to enter if the base of the home is lifted of the ground.
These architectural patterns were discovered by Rima during the study popularly known as Design of Low-Rise Buildings for Extreme Wind Events.
