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The 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence highlighted the vulnerability of New Zealand light-frame wood buildings that are the predominant typology in residential construction. While life-safety performance was excellent, many buildings experienced widespread cracking of internal wall linings that resulted in costly repairs and disruption. Despite the widespread use of light-frame wood construction in New Zealand, no known shake table tests have been documented for this construction typology. Additionally, New Zealand light-frame wood building performance cannot simply be inferred from international testing because New Zealand adopts a different design philosophy from those of the US and Canada by relying on gypsum sheathing as the primary lateral resisting element. To further investigate New Zealand light-frame wood building performance, this paper discusses shake table testing of a light-frame wood building specimen, constructed on the University of Canterbury unidirectional shake table using modern New Zealand design and construction approaches. The observed damages during the tests were consistent with those observed in similarly built structures that were investigated after the 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence. This paper also presents a modeling approach using the state-of-the-art software Timber3D, which was verified by simulating the shake table specimen and comparing the observed and predicted dynamic response from the test specimen and model, respectively. The Timber3D modeling approach included analysis and parameterization of screw-slip data using the Evolutionary Parameter Hysteretic Model, formulation of two-dimensional wall component models, and nonlinear time history analysis of a three-dimensional model of the shake table specimen. The model was shown to reasonably predict the displacement response of the shake table specimen and the strength degradation from cracking damage through repeated earthquakes. The modeling approach described is intended to further the development of residential building models toward the performance-based seismic design of light-frame wood buildings in New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disasters devastate communities by damaging built infrastructure systems that support residential habitation, forcing people to evacuate from their homes, find alternative housing, and eventually rehabitate. Disaster mitigation projects can reduce damage to built infrastructure and community recovery time. Most mitigation projects are analyzed using monetary measures, thereby not fully accounting for benefits due to other factors, such as residential habitation, which are difficult to quantify and model. A recent US Army Corps of Engineers policy requires the inclusion of nonmonetary impacts in mitigation project analyses. However, rigorous modeling and quantification methods of nonmonetary impacts are needed. This paper describes such a modeling approach and the Disaster Habitation Model (DHM) for rigorously modeling and quantifying the habitation impacts of disaster mitigation projects for project analysis and selection. The DHM combines the impacts of critical internal infrastructure systems in a community to simulate habitation over a community's disaster experience. The approach and model are illustrated using the Halls Bayou watershed in Houston, Texas. Results estimate the habitation benefits of a proposed mitigation program and thereby provide a basis for including other social effects of projects in mitigation project analyses. The approach and method are found to be capable of realistically portraying disaster habitation behavior and are useful in quantifying improvements due to mitigation efforts. Application across different disaster types, mitigation efforts, limitations, and future development opportunities are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supporting aging adults who wish to maintain their independence and stay in their homes is becoming an increasingly prevalent issue in the United States and worldwide. Aging-in-place is a popular term in aging literature, defined as one's ability to live as they possibly can, confidently and independently, in their private home. However, current housing design and construction considerations for aging adults are typically limited to projects specifically catering to retirement or senior communities, focusing primarily on physical accessibility. There is insufficient research or application addressing the cognitive and physical aspects of aging in residential design, construction, and operation despite the growing emphasis on smart buildings. To examine the current housing options for aging adults in the United States, this case study offerred a comprehensive comparison of two residential units in terms of internal spatial features, design, and construction costs. One unit adheres to the requirements outlined in the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, targeting individuals aged 55 and above. The other unit, with comparable dimensions, lacks the same emphasis on accommodating aging individuals. Both housing units were developed and budgeted in Lawrenceville, Georgia, in March 2021. By examining floor plans, accessibility, building systems, and costs associated with these two units, it was found that the construction cost of the housing designed for 55 years and older was 35% greater than the comparable project. The major contributor to the cost difference was the restriction of designing an accessible living space on one level rather than features that support aging. Hence, this paper provides a suggested range of current smart trends, home sensors, and aging-friendly features that cater to the various physical, cognitive, and social/psychological needs of aging adults. This research highlights the pressing need for comprehensive housing design and construction strategies that consider cognitive aging alongside physical aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent advancements in hurricane hazard characterization and a better understanding of the vulnerabilities of the built environment to hurricane-related hazards, coastal communities still face considerable losses due to extensive damage from hurricanes. Designing and constructing the most vulnerable types of buildings, that is, residential buildings, to be considered as resilient structures can play a significant role in maintaining the functionality of these communities after strong hurricane events. To construct buildings that can maintain or recover functionality in a timely manner after a hurricane event, an organized and clear understanding of the vast extent of hurricane hazards that could disrupt the functionality of buildings is crucially important. This knowledge could enable investigators to pursue research gaps and illuminate less-understood aspects of hurricane-induced failure mechanisms to effectively limit loss of functionality in residential buildings after hurricanes. With this intention, this paper presents a review of the damage mechanisms for different kinds of hurricane-related hazards in low-rise residential buildings and tries to synthesize information in the literature, building codes, and guidelines to identify research gaps. Based on the highlighted gaps, the paper suggests future research endeavors to augment the existing knowledge regarding hurricane-induced loss of functionality through refined or new research methodologies. The paper concludes with a brief discussion on the benefits, limitations, and future directions of the performance and functionality-based design in the context of hurricane engineering and loss assessment in low-rise residential buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-rise wood buildings occupy over 95% of all residential structures in the US. However, low-rise buildings usually perform poorly during extreme wind events, such as hurricanes and tornadoes. To ensure the resilience of low-rise buildings to various loads, codes, specifications, and design manuals are usually adopted. However, wind loading in these design codes is typically represented by simplified wind pressure coefficients. Both the directional and envelope methods provided in the current standard consider explicitly the wind directions normal and parallel to the ridge of buildings, with the other directions enveloped for generalization purposes. In comparison, the database-assisted design (DAD) method, which has received increased attention from researchers, is characterized by the direct use of pressure time series from a large number of pressure taps measured in wind tunnel tests for various wind directions. Based on the several previous versions of the current standard, many researchers compared the wind pressures and peak responses from the DAD method and the directional and envelope methods in the current standard. Both methods were found to provide underestimated results. Currently, in addition to the absence of comparisons for the current standard, comparisons of the DAD method with the time-history analysis using the directional and envelope methods for a full-size building considering the material nonlinearity have not been performed. Moreover, the effects of wind speed and wind direction on the wind pressures and peak responses of structures have been ignored. In this paper, the results from both directional and envelope methods with time history analysis for low-rise residential buildings are assessed and compared with those from the DAD method. Synthetic hurricane tracks were incorporated based on the real wind speeds and directions in the community. Transient analysis with the time histories of wind pressures were applied to a realistic full-scale building model under different wind speeds and wind directions. The results suggest that the directional and envelope methods lead to an underestimated displacement, especially at high wind speeds. With wind directions parallel and normal to the ridge of buildings explicitly considered in the current standard, critical wind directions other than the two directions could not be detected, which could underestimate wind-induced responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's Hot Summer and Cold Winter zone, with a 550 million population, accounts for 45% of China's building energy consumption; as such, building retrofits could offer substantial energy savings. This paper presents results from a dynamic thermal modeling study of a typical urban multistory residential building under three types of air conditioning (A/C) operating schedules. Seven energy-saving retrofit measures (external wall insulation, roof insulation, double-glazing, air infiltration control, window shading, communal staircase design, and energy-efficient A/C) were evaluated, and the retrofit strategy with the highest annual energy savings and lowest thermal discomfort was identified. This retrofit strategy was subsequently evaluated for other flats (apartments) with different orientations and positions in the typical building. The annual space-conditioning energy could be reduced by 59%–68%, depending on the flat location, orientation and A/C operating schedule. The findings were then scaled up to estimate the potential energy savings in the city of Chongqing. More than 320 multistory residential buildings were represented by 12 archetypes. Space-conditioning energy consumption was reduced by up to 58% (18.8 TWh). This work provides evidence of the potential energy savings of city-scale retrofit that could aid China in reducing building energy consumption and achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. It was possible to explore a wide range of refurbishment options for China's highly energy-consuming Hot Summer and Cold Winter zone with hot, humid summers and mild, chilly winters using dynamic thermal models. The simulation models developed in this paper revealed that double-glazing with air infiltration control is the most effective retrofit measure for middle-floor flats, but for top-floor flats, roof insulation is the most effective; south-facing flats consume more high energy consumption than north-facing flats. Furthermore, high-rise buildings consume less energy than low-rise buildings per square meter, and one-bedroom flats consume more energy than three-bedroom flats per square meter. This study also demonstrated the procedure to develop thermal comfort evaluation methods, A/C operating schedules, and construction parameters from literature in this climate zone when there were no standards or databases available. Findings offer a tangible, clear retrofit strategy that considers different A/C operating schedules, flat locations, and building archetypes. It can assist decision-making by practitioners and homeowners aiming to upgrade the building stock of this climate zone which covers 3.4 billion m2 with a 550 million population to reduce energy consumption and improve occupant comfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term predictions of the energy consumption of a building can be a reference in formulating energy conservation policies to achieve carbon neutrality. However, existing research on the prediction of energy consumption of urban buildings mainly adopts top-down or bottom-up single models that do not consider the coupling effect of macro and micro factors. Therefore, a coupled top-down and bottom-up prediction model has been proposed in this paper. The applicability of the proposed method was investigated based on residential buildings in Beijing, China. First, based on a top-down methodology, the energy consumption data of residential buildings in Beijing were investigated using an urban statistical yearbook, and the energy consumption of residential buildings under different energy-saving policies was analyzed. Second, micro factors, such as envelope parameters, personnel behavior, air conditioning, and electrical usage of typical residential buildings, were investigated. Subsequently, a simulation model of residential building energy consumption was constructed according to the survey data. The actual and simulated values for 2017 were 0.264 GJ/m2 and 0.252 GJ/m2 , respectively. Finally, pessimistic and optimistic scenarios are proposed using the Human Impact, Population, Affluence, Technology (IPAT) model. The energy consumption of residential buildings in Beijing for the next decade was predicted under different scenarios by adopting the gray prediction method and multiple regression analysis, which was verified using the back-propagation neural network algorithm. In the baseline scenario, the projected 2021 heating energy consumption value was 13.4 kgce/m2 with a relative error of 6.52%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hurricane-induced coastal floods pose a significant threat to near-shore communities for the United States and many other coastal areas around the world. Various mitigation measures have been developed to reduce infrastructure vulnerability. This paper proposes an engineering-based method to evaluate the influence of different flood mitigation strategies on residential structural vulnerability. The mitigation strategies studied are floor elevation, the elevation of utilities, wet floodproofing, and dry floodproofing. A probabilistic damage and cost analysis of building components is employed to modify existing fragility functions of unmitigated structures. The coastal flood fragility functions are then translated into vulnerability functions to express the mean damage ratio as a function of the hazard intensity, reflecting the influence of the mitigation measures. To evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy, the mitigated results are compared with the vulnerability functions of unmitigated residential structures. The proposed method is designed to incorporate independent calibration data from damage assessments readily and claims analyses and provides a useful tool to help decision-makers assess coastal flood mitigation measures on a quantitative basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is now evidence that many long-standing international plumbing codes significantly overestimate the peak water demand in multilevel residential buildings. The overestimation of this design value may have adverse effects on construction cost, energy consumption, water quality, and safe operation. This research aims to assess the performance of the current Australian and New Zealand cold water plumbing standard in peak demand design for multilevel residential buildings. A literature review was conducted on the international development of residential water demand estimation models. The Australian practice of peak demand design is compared against selected international plumbing codes and some newly proposed approaches using a fixed apartment layout as a benchmark. Following this, the paper compares the actual water demand of four Australian multilevel residential buildings with the designed peak demand (99th percentile flow) from the Australian and New Zealand standard and selected international plumbing codes. Results show that the adjusted 99th percentile flow rates (adjusted from raw measurements to count for the impact of sampling interval) are only 23%–28% of the nominal design values from the Australian and New Zealand standard. None of the international peak demand design standards considered in this research can be readily applied to Australian multilevel residential buildings. Research needs are identified, including the impact of the sampling interval, the practical definition of the 99th percentile flow, the implications of reduced pipe sizes, and other limitations in current plumbing system design practices. This research serves as an informative reference for researchers, industry, and regulatory bodies working on improving their existing plumbing design standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivating investment in predisaster mitigation requires accurate estimates of natural hazard risks. The present tools for loss estimation overlook building-level variations in wind loading induced by the configuration of surrounding buildings, called neighborhood texture. In doing so, such tools underestimate expected wind-related losses and undervalue wind mitigation. In this paper, texture effects are incorporated into a widely recognized loss estimation framework and applied to a case study of the residential building stock in Florida, with a focus on five densely populated counties representing a range of hazard exposures. For this study, each building is individually assessed for its prevailing local texture, and its occupancy and building characteristics are probabilistically assigned based on current census data. Mitigation measures considered include shutters, straps, and tie downs. Even accounting for more than a third of homes already having these mitigation measures, the model results suggest that implementing them would yield annualized benefits of $4.3 billion statewide ranging from $136 per household in Duval County to $1,950 per household in Miami-Dade County (respectively 100% and 90% higher than conventional estimates). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to optimize building envelope parameters and ventilation systems by considering passive cooling strategies to improve indoor thermal comfort without any significant supplementary cost in buildings construction and operation in a tropical area. The NSGA-II algorithm is performed in this optimization study using TRNSYS and CONTAM simulation tools, with three objectives: (a) minimization of indoor thermal discomfort, (b) minimization of construction costs, and (c) minimization of the building weight. The results show that the determination of building parameters is highly affected by design objectives. By considering all objectives, the building is recommended to have low-geometry compactness, moderate roof slope, southeast main facade orientation, high roof and wall albedo, and moderate height and wall thickness. However, the final decision to determine the selected building parameters depends on user preferences. The methodology and results in this paper can help design new more comfortable residential buildings in the hot-humid tropical region at more efficient construction cost. It can also improve the energy efficiency of existing residential buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings are being constructed at an alarming speed as a result of unlimited demands around the world. However, lack of initiatives from building owners in undertaking systematic and planned preventive maintenance for privately owned residential buildings has become a contributing factor to premature aging and dilapidation. Most building owners rely on building professionals to take up the responsibilities of maintenance works. Building maintenance becomes a major concern of most building professionals in Hong Kong. However, maintenance budgets do not always meet the ever-increasing needs. Priorities must be set for different aspects of maintenance works. Priority setting is normally based on the professional knowledge and experience of building professions such as property managers or building surveyors, whose attitude may affect the priority setting and the decision making. Maintenance priority setting refers to establishing priority for different maintenance aspects. This paper investigates the attitude toward maintenance priority setting from building owners and building professionals by examining (1) the opinions on professional knowledge and experience that affect maintenance decision making; (2) the overall standards of private residential buildings; (3) the responsibilities for proper upkeep of the buildings; and (4) reasons for building deteriorations. A questionnaire survey among building owners and building professionals was conducted. The building owners and building professionals generally agreed that buildings are of poor quality, although the building owners do not believe that the proper upkeep of the buildings is their responsibility. The owners' lack of awareness, lack of voluntary initiatives, and unwillingness to bear the maintenance cost are the three most common reasons for building deteriorations found from the survey results. The paper suggests improving awareness of building maintenance by providing seminars to owners and the public, and increasing the maintenance budget for residential buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many elevated houses in coastal areas have suffered serious wind-induced damage during hurricanes; this indicates the need for better understanding of the performance of elevated homes subjected to higher wind forces or effects in open pile-supported areas. The actual direct and indirect wind-induced damage to elevated wooden residential houses in past hurricanes is briefly reviewed. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was utilized to investigate the effect of wind angle and house elevation on the magnitude of mean negative or positive design pressures as an important variable affecting the vulnerability of the structural system. The numerical results were validated based on available experimental tests in terms of the mean pressure coefficient (Cp) over the house surfaces. The CFD results show that elevating a house can result in increased wind speed and subsequent additional turbulence effects around the house, in particular at the exposed underside. The results indicate that elevating a house does not significantly affect the Cp distribution on the roof surfaces, so that the roof uplift forces remain almost constant. However, elevating the house leads to increases in Cp at various rates over the house surfaces, including exterior walls and along the underside. The rates of such increases depend on wind direction and house elevation. Regardless of wind direction, the overturning moment acting on an elevated 1:20 scale house increases about 50% and 95%, respectively, for 0.105 and 0.21 m elevations. Considering the scope and the limitation of the study presented in this paper, more studies are needed to better understand the effect of aerodynamic characteristics of elevated houses, particularly on peak positive or negative pressures over various building surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the poor thermal comfort provided in many buildings, solutions have been sought that ally lower energy costs with a contribution to greater sustainability. Of these solutions, the thermal retrofitting of the outer envelope of buildings stands out, with various systems of façade insulation being devised such as ETICS (external thermal insulation composite system). Even though advantageous by comparison with other thermal retrofitting solutions, system integration in the façade needs to be minutely detailed. However, its integration in the facade is possible, provided that it meets the target objectives, including the improvement of thermal comfort. Taking the application of ETICS in façade rehabilitation as the starting point, with particular reference to residential buildings, this paper offers some proposals in the form of novel solutions for the architectural integration of the system based on current solutions, suggesting general design procedures. The architectural details of these solutions were the main object of the study and this paper presents some solutions for integration in the windows areas, which can prevent some very common errors frequently made nowadays. The degree of architectural integration of the solutions can vary according to four evaluation parameters: cost, durability, practicability and architectural integration. These parameters assume different values in the various proposed solutions, which is why there are several feasible solutions for each element of the facade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent hurricanes indicated that retrofitted residential buildings are still susceptible to wind- and flood-induced damage in coastal areas. This poor performance indicates that flood retrofit methods need to be evaluated in terms of efficiency and effectiveness to resist hurricane wind and flood loads. This paper discusses various aspects in the hurricane-resistant design and retrofit of coastal residential buildings, including potential wind and flood-induced damage, risk mitigation, cost of retrofit methods, and the need for better standards. The cost analysis is performed for a typical one-story wood-frame residential building with a gable roof system considering several flood retrofit methods. The result indicates that selecting a flood protection level higher than the basic 100-year flood level can significantly decrease the risk of damage. This result seems appropriate and essential for specific hurricane-prone regions considering recent changes in the intensity/frequency of storms. A review of actual damage types indicates that wood-frame elevated houses are susceptible to experiencing wind-induced damage to the structural system and more extensive damage to the envelope system. The performance of breakaway walls below the base flood elevation (BFE) strongly depends on the connections between such walls and structural members. The result of cost analysis indicates that the foundation type can directly affect the total cost of retrofit solutions, such as elevation, wet, and dry methods for houses in coastal areas. Regarding the elevation method, adding a freeboard higher than the BFE does not significantly increase the total cost once the elevation method is selected as the preferred retrofit solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities account for more than 70% of global fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. This number is likely to increase due to urban population growth. Much of the energy used in cities is consumed in buildings (e.g., for space conditioning and lighting). Better understanding of energy use patterns therefore is paramount. This paper leveraged advances in machine learning to model energy consumption in residential buildings and gain insights into building energy consumption trends in Chicago. By merging demographic and socioeconomic data collected from the US Census Bureau with energy benchmarking data for Chicago, three models were developed using three different machine learning algorithms: back-propagation neural network (BPNN), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), and random forest (RF). The results showed that XGBoost better predicts the building energy use, with an accuracy of 68%. Furthermore, Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) was used to interpret the impact of each variable used on building energy consumption. Overall, the insights gained in this study can help policy makers and planners to address building energy use better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal residential buildings have suffered significant damage during recent hurricanes, which illustrates the poor performance of coastal structures. This paper reviews the performance of coastal residential buildings with respect to direct and indirect damage, and subsequent mitigation techniques are discussed according to hurricane wind and flood-related hazards. The results show that building systems other than conventional wood frames have better performance during strong hurricanes. Regardless of building materials and systems, envelope systems and roofs are more susceptible to wind-induced damage compared to structural components. Therefore, selecting adequate connection systems, suitable wind-resistant materials, and appropriate installation methods for wall/roof coverings can significantly reduce the level of wind-induced damage. Regarding flood-related hazards, surge and subsequent wave heights cause inevitable damage to nonelevated or low elevated buildings once a flood reaches the first-floor level. Furthermore, many elevated buildings surviving a flood can still be vulnerable to wind-induced damage, particularly envelope systems due to the fact that the house would be exposed to higher wind pressures. As a result, selecting the appropriate foundation system and using flood-resistant materials below the base flood elevation can reduce flood-induced damage to residential buildings in coastal regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A previous study by the authors provides an overview of existing seismic risk assessment approaches and available seismic fragility information and highlights the lack of relevant information for nonengineered residential buildings. The current paper proposes a procedure for developing empirical seismic fragility curves for nonengineered residential buildings using the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) seismic ground motion and shaking intensity maps presented in a geographic information system (GIS) format, to overcome the lack of ground motion recordings. The proposed procedure has been applied to a damage data set collected in Bantul Regency, Indonesia, in the aftermath of the May 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake. Fragility curves for nonengineered single-story unreinforced masonry (URM) residential buildings have been derived using the damage data set for the peak ground acceleration (PGA) and pseudospectral acceleration (PSA) as the ground motion intensity measures. The developed fragility curves indicate the high seismic vulnerability of nonengineered residential buildings. This study also demonstrates the potential of utilizing USGS seismic ground motion data to develop empirical fragility curves for nonengineered residential buildings in developing countries. In addition, a comparison of the results from other seismic risk assessment studies highlights the significant influence of the derivation method used on the fragility curve characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The poor socioeconomic conditions in developing countries often lead to poorly constructed residential buildings that are particularly vulnerable to damage during an earthquake. A review of available literature carried out as part of a larger research program highlights the scarcity of existing fragility curves for the wide typology of nonengineered residential buildings around the world. Furthermore, fragility curves derived using empirical data are almost nonexistent due to the lack of postearthquake damage data and insufficient ground motion recordings in developing countries. The diversity in construction techniques and material quality in developing countries, particularly for nonengineered residential buildings, cannot be sufficiently represented through simplified or idealized analytical models. Therefore, the use of empirical based fragility curves is considered to be a well-suited approach for assessing the seismic risk levels for nonengineered residential buildings in developing countries. This paper presents a review and evaluation of existing seismic risk assessment studies and state-of-the-practice as it pertains to nonengineered buildings, and subsequently proposes the use of attenuation-based USGS ground motion and shaking intensity maps and geographic information system damage information to derive relevant fragility curves. The USGS ground motion and shaking intensity maps are proposed as they are developed using a consistent robust methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advancements in technology and infrastructure have greatly improved the capabilities of the natural hazards community to collect robust samples of building performance following hazard events and make them available to the research community for broad reuse purposes. Yet, there lacks standardized, open access data sets that combine reconnaissance data from multiple individual hazard events into unified, living testbeds that can grow through community participation. The objectives of this study are to (1) synthesize and present a unified, multievent windstorm performance data set (WiSPD) and (2) summarize common damage patterns observed in the WiSPD. The WiSPD currently consists of four hurricanes (occurring between 2017 and 2020) and four tornadoes (occurring between 2011 and 2020), all of which struck the United States. Each event's building performance assessments were collected with similar methodologies and contain details such as location, physical address, basic building attributes, estimated 3 s gust wind speed, basic wind speeds, and component-level damage percentage with a precision of ±5%. In combination, the testbed reveals that roof cover damage dominates in windstorms, regardless of the year of construction or building code enforced. Additionally, tornadoes tend to produce higher damage rates than hurricanes, specifically in fenestration and roof structure damage. Fragility functions for hurricanes exhibit a nonmonotonic relationship between wind speed and damage, potentially evidencing the strong influence of other confounding variables. Ultimately, the unified data set promises to be a rich testbed for further knowledge discovery and model validation by the research community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe hurricanes in coastal areas have caused enormous human and economic losses. Furthermore, the intensity and frequency of future hurricanes may increase due to the potential impact of climate change. Due to common underlying climatological causes, interrelations may exist between successive hurricane events. This paper proposes a novel approach for modeling the temporal correlation in hurricane frequency and develops an analytical method that reflects this correlation to estimate the statistical properties of cumulative hurricane damage. The method provides a closed-form solution to the mean and variance of hurricane damage, and can be used to assess the impacts of temporal correlation and nonstationarity in hurricane events quantitatively. The applicability of the method is demonstrated through a case study of Miami-Dade County, Florida, in which it is found that the nonstationarity in hurricane events increases the mean value of hurricane damage over a future period of 100 years, while the temporal correlation increases its variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pipeline engineering provides practical input for the design, construction, and operations of a 0.6-m (24-in.) steam pipeline in a central city that may differ significantly from that for pipelines in other regions. A relatively short steam line is a critical, high-risk piece of infrastructure. When that pipeline threatens other utility service connections, it could cause hospital emergencies and area fatalities. Pipelines provide a vital service, and concern for the safety and welfare of the public has always been a focal point. The necessary activities and surface characteristics of city streets are key issues that challenge the field engineer for the pipeline installation. Specific project issues that necessitate consideration include temporary barricades, routing of traffic, slope stability, vehicular plating, and supports. This paper provides a case study that examines the field progress of a pipeline installation in one of New York City's busiest areas and highlights the time spent overcoming key design issues and some of the technical developments of design, construction, and operations of steam supply pipe lines to high-rise office and residential buildings. Improving productivity in all the processes of pipeline construction is recognized as a pipeline engineering management problem that deserves attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building-maintenance decisions are a challenge for most builders. When builders finish construction, there is a guarantee period during which maintenance is their responsibility. These decisions have an effect that go beyond the financial aspects of maintenance costs, because failures during the warranty period are reflected in customer satisfaction and may have an effect on future sales. Thus, maintenance strategies should be devised with a focus on how to best deploy them to optimize both savings and occupant satisfaction. For this purpose, the present paper proposes a multicriteria model based on the delay-time concept to provide the builder with a quantitative tool to support the definition of a maintenance-inspection policy. An illustration of the application of the model is demonstrated, providing good results that support the decision maker in setting a better inspection policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, United States damages from natural hazard events exceeded $300 billion, suggesting that current targets for building performance do not sufficiently mitigate loss. The significant costs borne by individuals, insurers, and government do not include impacts from social disruption, displacement, and subsequent economic and livelihood effects. In 2016, Congress mandated the National Institute of Standards and Technology develop a report (NIST SP 1224) describing the research needs, implementation activities, and engineering principles necessary to improve the performance of residential and commercial buildings subjected to natural hazards. An immediate occupancy performance objective (IOPO) could help preserve building and social functions post event, minimizing physical, social, and economic disaster. The stakeholder-informed NIST report sets forth items needed for multihazard building design that can support enhanced resilience decision making. This paper highlights the social and economic considerations that require additional research, particularly with regard to feasibility and potential impacts from an IOPO. These topics must be considered prior to and throughout the IOPO technical development and community implementation processes to ensure better outcomes after natural hazard events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some recent studies have used actual water end-use data to inform the peak demand design of plumbing systems in residential buildings, addressing the problem of overestimation in many long-standing plumbing codes and standards. Vast amounts of fixture-specific data from each household are required to determine the frequency each fixture is used during peak water consumption periods (fixture-use probability). However, obtaining such data can be difficult, and the processing is costly and time-consuming. The current study presents a new approach for determining the fixture-use probability for peak water demand design of premise plumbing systems. A stochastic water demand model is developed using only the high-level statistical information from water end-use studies presented in the public domain, offsetting the need for the original water end-use data sets. The stochastic model is then used to form easy-to-use formulas for determining the probability of use for various fixture groups, which consider both the number of apartments and building occupancy. The approach is validated by comparing the estimated peak demand values with the corresponding values determined from actual water consumption observations in three Australian residential apartment buildings and one mixed-use building. The new approach enables a much more accurate estimation of the peak demand compared with the conventional approach suggested in the current Australian plumbing standard. The proposed approach can be used by researchers and practitioners in other countries to determine their region-specific fixture-use probability values for more accurate peak demand estimation, contributing to improved premise plumbing system design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building sector is material-intensive and is responsible for consuming large quantities of local and international resources. In extreme climates, the consumption of these resources increases manifold to ensure comfortable indoors. Contemporary buildings have predominantly used energy efficiency as the main criterion to define sustainability, which has led to the consumption of more abiotic materials. In contrast, indigenous buildings are based on local context and are guided by geographical, environmental, and economic constraints. This work aims to critically review indigenous architectural practices across four climatic zones, focusing on their resource efficiency, and identify practices that can be reintroduced in contemporary construction in extremely cold climates. To achieve this objective, literature from 1960 to 2022 was comprehensively reviewed. In addition, contemporary building construction and codes in cold climatic regions were analyzed to assess the current state of practices. Specific case studies from each climatic region were evaluated to assess applicability in residential buildings in cold climates. The main findings from this review and analysis indicate that indigenous practices have the potential to optimize the use of natural resources to create more sustainable climate-resilient buildings. In addition, more empirical studies are needed to tailor these practices and quantitatively assess resource efficiency for large-scale implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood-frame structures are used in almost 90% of residential buildings in the United States. It is thus imperative to rapidly and accurately assess the damage of wood-frame structures in the wake of an earthquake event. This study aims to develop a machine-learning-based seismic classifier for a portfolio of 6,113 wood-frame structures near the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) in which synthesized ground motions are adopted to characterize potential earthquakes. This seismic classifier, based on a multilayer perceptron (MLP), is compared with existing fragility curves developed for the same wood-frame buildings near the NMSZ. This comparative study indicates that the MLP seismic classifier and fragility curves perform equally well when predicting minor damage. However, the MLP classifier is more accurate than the fragility curves in prediction of moderate and severe damage. Compared with the existing fragility curves with earthquake intensity measures as inputs, machine-learning-based seismic classifiers can incorporate multiple parameters of earthquakes and structures as input features, thus providing a promising tool for accurate seismic damage assessment in a portfolio scale. Once trained, the MLP classifier can predict damage classes of the 6,113 structures within 0.07 s on a general-purpose computer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current procedures for computing building price indices do not adequately account for changes in the quality of new residential construction. This has resulted in an upward bias when it comes to price changes, which causes published productivity changes to be too low because of overdeflation. The aim of this study is to estimate productivity figures that take quality changes into account. Knowledge about the size of quality changes is important to quantify the true level of cost increases in the residential construction sector to obtain more reliable productivity development figures. This paper shows that productivity in the residential construction sector has been underestimated since the 1990s. The findings indicate that data collection for productivity calculations should be more detailed and rigorous to measure quality changes. The paper highlights potential improvements in the calculations of productivity changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an integrated methodology for the assessment of inhabited built heritage, referred to as metodologia de avaliação de património edificado habitado (MAPEH), which emerges from the need to solve gaps resulting from the existence of fragmented studies that do not take into consideration the complex interaction of the different aspects involved in the interventions on built heritage. In particular, it incorporates a multidisciplinary analysis that combines three dimensions: patrimonial, technical, and social, which are associated with criteria such as identification of characteristics and values; assessment of safety and housing conditions; and recognition of residents' profile, expectations, and basic needs. The paper also presents the results of the application of MAPEH to a case study: the inhabited old residential buildings of Porto, Portugal, underlining the interaction and importance of the three dimensions and the need for flexible and proportional criteria in the application of building codes and legislation, offering new input for establishing better-oriented intervention procedures on built heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, engineering studies have mentioned the need for meeting societal demands of damage expectations and housing performance for major earthquakes. However, they do not refer to any systematic analysis examining such societal demands, nor have they investigated interactions of this with voluntary seismic strengthening. A questionnaire distributed to homeowners of wooden-framed houses in the Wellington region of New Zealand investigated these issues. Survey respondents expected a better seismic performance of their house after voluntarily undertaking structural strengthening (i.e., positive outcome expectancy) and expected a better seismic performance of their house, regardless of the use of strengthening, than what is accepted by current seismic codes, which aim for life safety (i.e., collapse prevention). Although this study found that experience of damage in past earthquakes was not associated with final implementation of such preparedness measures, access to strengthening information and trust toward providers of information, such as builders, were found to play a key role when adopting strengthening. This study gives insight into the role that outcome expectancy and sources of information play in voluntary structural strengthening of residential low-rise buildings and indicates a need for better engagement, such as working closer with builders as sources of information, to reduce losses in future major earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refurbishment of existing buildings, in order to reduce environmental impact, both in terms of land take and CO2 emissions, must be one of the priorities of the whole building sector. Quantitatively, residential housing built in 1950–1990 accounts for the highest energy consumption, since its low-quality technology has caused its swift material and performance-related decay (not to mention social and urban), as reported in 2011 by the Building Performance Institute Europe (BPIE). In Italy, the earthquakes in Umbria and Marche (1997), Abruzzo (2009), Emilia (2012), and Lazio (2016) made it imperative to resort to seismic risk prevention, before the energy-consumption analysis. The paper presents the first results of the research concerning methodologies and qualitative analyses, whose objects have been twofold: (1) identifying the criteria and guidelines of intervention when adding floors, paying particular attention to construction-related and structural aspects within the seismic analysis; and (2) testing such criteria through one case study, namely a 1970s Azienda Territoriale Edilizia Residenziale (ATER) social housing building in Rovigo. The analysis of the building and its modeling through ad hoc software (Revit and Midas) has determined a first evaluation of its feasibility in a digital environment, analyzing the building's structural behavior under seismic action before and after the intervention—besides while work was in progress—underlining the potentialities and drawbacks that adding floors implies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing shoreline populations and projections of damage and losses from coastal natural hazards, such as hurricanes and nor'easters, coastal community resilience has attracted increasing attention. To ensure coastal communities return to their normal operating conditions with original functionality, many aspects, such as social impacts, economic costs, and the physical integrity and safety of building infrastructures, require consideration to better predict future damage and vulnerability, leading to improved decision-making to mitigate future threats. In this study, an interdisciplinary framework linking social, economic, and infrastructural community resilience is proposed to project structural damage, morbidities, home displacements, and economic losses. Through Monte Carlo simulation of historical weather and vulnerability data, potential physical damage scenarios are predicted. A case study of residential building hurricane vulnerability of a coastal community is presented, and the effects of elevating buildings are evaluated. The physical damage projections indicate that the elevation of houses closest to shore, which have a higher vulnerability to hurricane storm surge damage and consequent socioeconomic impacts, shows the potential to drastically reduce cumulative hurricane-induced damage, potentially leading to substantial reductions in cumulative socioeconomic hurricane-induced losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of standardized design quality indicators (DQIs) has hindered the proliferation of Post-Occupancy Evaluations (POEs) as a standard process in the property sector. This research aims to develop a standardized set of DQIs and further propose a DQI toolkit to facilitate its implementation. This research will use an in-depth review of the extant literature and will consult campus facility maintenance records at a case study university. Therefore, the identified DQIs will be consolidated and formulated to be representative of various campus facilities that include academic, research, and residential buildings. Subsequently, the DQIs will be standardized through three rounds of a Delphi survey, where 23 professionals will participate in the first round, and 19 and 18 will participate in the second and third rounds, respectively. The results of the Delphi survey will be analyzed based on the Relative Importance Index (RII), where an RII of 3.0 will be used to determine the experts' agreement on the DQI's significance. Finally, the standardized DQIs will be presented in the form of a survey toolkit. The implication of this research is to fulfill the need for standardized forms of POEs in the property sector and to enhance the design quality of campus facilities that are required by the higher-education sector. The value of the proposed toolkit is characterized by the ease of use, comparison between various facilities, inclusion in the procurement process for contractors, and promoting the designer's review as a standard process in the delivery of facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing driving among young adults is an important topic because their travel behavior is shaping future travel trends. However, previous studies have paid less attention to the influence of compactness at both residences and workplaces on young adults' commuting behavior in the Chinese context. Moreover, few studies have examined the influential pathways from compactness to young adults' commuting behavior. To fill these gaps, based on a post-'80s (people born between 1980 and 1989) survey conducted in Shanghai in 2013, this study employed a generalized structural equation model to examine whether both compact residences and workplaces affect young adults' choices of commuting mode and, if so, whether or not car ownership and commuting distance are mediators. Results show that compactness at both residences and workplaces is associated with young adults' commuting behavior, but that the compactness at residences has a higher influence. Moreover, we identify that both car ownership and commuting distance are mediators in the relationship between compact residences and commuting behavior, but not in the relationship between compact workplaces and commuting behavior. This study concludes that applying the compact land-use policy at both residences and workplaces could reduce young adults' driving behavior in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formwork is an essential part of construction engineering, whether for floors or for walls. This research focused on wall formwork, which is used in residential buildings. This study primarily was concerned with reducing the cost of the formwork using optimal sections and optimum casting rates. The methodology of this research consisted of using equations to determine the lateral pressure of concrete on the formwork, to calculate the minimum spacing between the formwork components to obtain an economical and safe design, to calculate the optimum casting rate, which is 1.5 m/h , and to find the optimum lateral pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimation of tornado wind speed can be extremely difficult, especially near the ground where tornado damage occurs. Because of limitations of in situ measurements, ground-based damage surveys continue to be the most commonly used method to estimate the near-surface wind speed. This study discusses a comprehensive damage assessment of Naplate, Illinois (IL) tornado that occurred in February 2017. The damage survey included the following damage indicators: residential buildings, trees, and traffic signs. Additional data from social media images were collected and used to supplement the damage assessment. This comprehensive data set of damage indicators was used to estimate the characteristics of the Naplate, IL tornado. Multiple wind-speed estimation methods, each suited to a subset of the damage indicators, were applied to estimate the near-surface wind field of the tornado. The results from all independent methods were compared to create a cross-validated estimation of the surface tornado wind field. The similarity between estimates derived from different damage indicators and methods increases confidence in the wind speed estimation and validates the independent application of any of the methods presented, with each being appropriate for given circumstances and data availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposed to explore real estate trends in the high-rise housing market in Belém, Northern Brazil. We based the theoretical approach on the macroeconomic, territorial, and social elements of the high-rise segment both in national and international contexts. The sample comprised 137 high-rise projects launched throughout the 2005–2017 period. A quadratic regression model confirmed real estate susceptibility to macroeconomic oscillation. A geographically weighted regression model revealed that larger dwellings were launched more in upper-income, lower formal employment rate, and lower infrastructure coverage regions of Belém. A multinomial logit regression model established differences in the launching likelihood between different categories of housing size projects. The outcomes were compared with worldwide tendencies, seeking both common and unique patterns of real estate exploitation. The methodological forms of exploring real estate trends in developing countries—which are scarcer—add significant scientific value for the urban planning community, as they assist public policy by identifying the susceptibility of urban areas to land exploitation, in addition to enabling replication of such real estate diagnostics in other cities of emerging countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tornadoes occur at a high frequency in the United States compared with other natural hazards but have a substantially small footprint. A single high-intensity tornado can result in high casualty rates and catastrophic economic and social consequences, particularly for small- to medium-size communities. Comprehensive community resilience assessment and improvement requires the analyst to develop a model of interacting physical, social, and economic systems and to measure outcomes that result from specific decisions made. These outcomes often are in the form of metrics such as the number of people injured or the number of households and/or businesses without water, but it has been recognized that most community resilience metrics have socioeconomic characteristics. In this study, for the first time, a fully quantitative interacting model is used to examine the effect of a tornado damaging physical infrastructure (buildings and electrical power network) and the effects on the population and the local economy for a real community. Then, three residential building retrofit strategies are considered as alternatives to improve community resilience, and the metrics for the physical, economic, and social sectors are computed. An illustrative example is presented for the 2011 Joplin tornado in a new open-source Interdependent Networked Community Resilience Modeling Environment (IN-CORE), with a computable general equilibrium (CGE) economics model that computes household income, employment, and domestic supply before and after the tornado. Detailed demographic data was allocated to each structure to enable the calculation of resilience metrics related to population dislocation impacts from the tornado. The results of these analyses stemming from building damage estimation have a logical trend, but the substantial contribution of this work is that, for the first time, the effect of retrofit strategies for tornado loading can be quantified in terms of their effects on socioeconomic metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has continued to broaden understanding of tornadoes and their effect on civil infrastructure. Because a significant portion of the losses associated with tornado events impact residential structures, it is appropriate to conduct a risk-based hazard assessment of these structures, particularly those constructed using wood because more than 90% of residential buildings are constructed of wood. In addition, alternatives to light-frame construction, including cross-laminated timber (CLT), provide stronger and more resilient structures. CLT is an engineered wood product made of gluing orthogonal layers of dimensioned lumber to produce panels. In this study, the performance of traditional light-frame construction and CLT archetypes was used to calculate the risk associated with tornadoes. In addition, a tornado hazard database was used to determine the geographic variation in risk associated with residential structures built using CLT and light-frame construction. This risk was quantified in terms of the annual probability of failure, reliability index, and the expected average annual loss. Comparisons of annual probability of failure and reliability index show that, for large portions of the United States, light-frame construction following the current practice exhibits a relatively low reliability. In those same areas, CLT structures designed in accordance with the current code standards and engineering principles exhibited a significantly smaller annual probabilities of failure and larger reliability index. A comparison of cost (direct building and content losses) showed that tornado hazards alone do not make it economically advantageous to build using CLT; however, consideration of additional hazards (e.g., nontornadic wind and earthquake) and other indirect losses (e.g., interruption cost and loss of lives) could make it an alternative worth considering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-family residential building damage exposure data from the FEMA-Hazus general building stock data set (HGBS) are compared with corresponding Harris County (Houston, Texas) assessor data. Countywide, the HGBS generates similar house size estimates, but exaggerates replacement new costs by 86% and depreciated costs by 165%. At the census block level of analysis, where most FEMA-Hazus disaster mitigation modeling takes place, both size and replacement cost data had very high and irregular incidences of inaccuracy across individual blocks with no discernable error patterns. These heterogeneous errors, combined with the fact Houston-based HGBS-assessor inaccuracies are markedly dissimilar from prior observations of HGBS inaccuracy in three upper Midwest study locations, demonstrates the difficulties of using simple correction measures for HGBS data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nail connections, serving as critical nodes in the loading path of wood residential buildings, could play a crucial role in structural analysis and damage prediction when the structures are subjected to winds and floodings from natural hazards, such as hurricanes or tsunamis. To simulate the nonlinear behavior of the nail connections, nonoriented nonlinear spring elements usually are used for three translation degrees of freedom (DOFs). However, because the three DOFs are decoupled as three independent springs, their coupled effects can not be included in the modeling scheme, which leads to inconsistency for displacement trajectories. The equivalent parametrized beam element (EPBC) was proposed to avoid this inconsistency. However, the EPBC assumes the same response in two transverse directions, inducing inaccurate nail connection response predictions for three-dimensional (3D) problems. To include material nonlinearity and the coupled effects between different DOFs of the nail connections, this study proposes a three-dimensional equivalent parametrized beam element (3DEPBC). An algorithm of importance sampling for shear stiffness (ISSS) was developed to determine the optimal parameters for the 3DEPBC. Data from experimental tests were used to validate the accuracy of the proposed connector modeling scheme. The capability of loading coupling of the 3DEPBC was demonstrated by comparing the result with that of the equivalent nonlinear spring connector (ENSC), which uses nonlinear spring elements, and the EPBC with combined loadings. A case study was presented for the application of the nail model in a real roof. The investigation of shear stress suggested that shear stress has a limited influence on the total stress, indicating that ignoring the shear stress in the ISSS algorithm is reasonable, which also makes the algorithm more applicable. The proposed new connector significantly reduces the number of elements in the building model, and real nonlinear behavior of the building under complicated loadings can be captured carefully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the economic feasibility of strengthening several types of low-code RC structures in Bucharest is analyzed. Using recently compiled information regarding the characteristics of the residential building stock of Bucharest built in the period 1963–1977, an updated seismic risk assessment is performed. Moreover, analytical fragility functions are obtained for each structural system by employing the same approach that relies on the pushover curve. Subsequently, a logic-tree approach involving previously derived fragility functions is employed for seismic risk computations. Three economic loss models and two casualty loss models were implemented in the risk assessment procedure. The smallest mean annual loss is obtained for the medium-rise large panels structures that had very good behavior during the Vrancea 1977 earthquake. The analysis of the economic feasibility of strengthening shows that the RC soft-story structures appear as the most feasible to be strengthened because the range of costs of the strengthening works is the largest in this case. Correspondingly, the RC dual structures appear as the least feasible for strengthening works among the considered structural systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the construction sector, the absence of a framework to incorporate and synchronize the resources required for activities means that projects risk incurring cost and time overruns. In this study, a framework was generated and tested to optimize resource allocation. The framework considers financial constraints through a genetic algorithm process and constraint-based simulation. The simulation method was developed based on the critical path method relation-defining system, with a dynamic prioritizing system automatically creating the simulation network. By introducing a standard cost database to the data management section of the framework, the total work required to insert data manually is minimized. For the majority of the activities, the user simply chooses an activity and determines its relationships with other activities. The rest of the initial required data are automatically pulled from the imported databases. The validity of the developed framework was demonstrated through a case study on constructing the structure of a residential building in Tehran, including four structural systems. The four systems were compared regarding time and cost of execution to illustrate the relevance of the framework. The framework decreases the user's manual work while producing outputs of time, cost, and resources that are compatible with building information modeling (BIM) software. Overall, the result is an enhanced quality of project management plans. Moreover, the framework can be used as a planning tool at the preconstruction stage or as a control tool during the construction phase. The proposed approach provides a realistic project management plan, with the potential for substantial savings in finances and resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social quality of life (SQOL) for single-family housing residents can be improved by enhancing their thermal comfort, indoor lighting quality, indoor air quality, and locating the housing unit in high-quality and safe neighborhoods. Accomplishing these SQOL improvements often leads to an increase in the life-cycle cost (LCC) of the housing unit. This paper presents a multiobjective optimization model that is capable of generating optimal trade-offs between the two conflicting objectives of maximizing the SQOL for single-family housing residents and minimizing the LCC of single-family housing units. The model is designed to maximize the SQOL for housing residents by improving their thermal comfort, indoor lighting quality, indoor air quality, and neighborhood quality. The model is also designed to minimize the LCC of housing units by minimizing the initial housing unit cost as well as its annual energy, utility, and maintenance costs. The model is developed in three main stages that focus on (1) identifying relevant criteria and metrics to measure the performance of these two optimization objectives; (2) modeling all decision variables, objective functions, and constraints; and (3) implementing a multiobjective genetic algorithm model to evaluate its performance. An application example of a housing unit is analyzed to illustrate the use of the developed model and demonstrate its capabilities in identifying optimal configurations of single-family housing design and construction decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, manual and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) surveys of physical damage to structures in Ortley Beach, New Jersey, following Hurricane Sandy are used to assess the vulnerability of residential structures to storm surge. First, using photographs from the manual survey, the performance of building components prone to surge damage (foundations, exterior walls, and wall siding) is assessed according to failure mechanism, construction type, and material. General observations include widespread failure of closed foundations, significant vulnerability of exterior walls to surge loads and waterborne debris impact, and the extensive loss of vinyl lap siding. The effect of the built environment is also investigated, revealing that the study area consists of two regions: one heavily damaged due to the failure of coastal dunes and another partially protected by large oceanfront structures acting as artificial breakwaters. The performance of individual structures is likewise found to strongly influence the performance of nearby buildings, either by shielding inland structures from surge loads or by generating damaging waterborne debris. Next, a statistical analysis of various vulnerability parameters characterizing structures and the built environment reveals that the distance of buildings from the coast is the most significant damage predictor, with additional factors such as house age and elevation off the ground also affecting component performance. Vulnerability curves and vulnerability surfaces giving the probability of component failure as functions of these significant vulnerability parameters are then developed across different surge environments, component types, and failure mechanisms, providing a quantification of the observed damage features. Fragility curves are also developed to depict the severity of waterborne debris impact. Finally, using airborne and mobile LiDAR surveys, a method for rapidly assessing foundation failure by detecting changes in a structure's location is proposed and validated for Ortley Beach. Applying this method to other New Jersey communities experiencing a similar surge (Seaside Heights and Normandy Beach), overall coastal performance is found to largely reflect the failure mode of the community's dunes. This study presents a framework for rigorously understanding storm surge impact through improved survey methods, assessment procedures, and statistical analyses. The specific findings from Hurricane Sandy highlight the significant vulnerabilities of coastal residential structures and can serve as a basis for improving resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Façades play an important role in buildings' energy demand, and their state of conservation obviously influences thermal performance. The energy performance gap in existing residential buildings due to façade conservation status has not been analyzed in depth. In order to facilitate the systematic analysis of this influence, a system for classifying façades and their corresponding anomalies was developed for the first time. The classification system includes 23 types of façades and eight types of anomalies. It was verified by a panel of experts, and a case study was carried out with a sample of 154 buildings. An analysis of the results showed that the classification system is useful for a future analysis of the energy performance gap in existing residential buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to gain a better understanding of the drivers of indoor water consumption in urban multistory residential buildings, to more accurately predict residential water demand, and to identify water saving opportunities. Water meters were installed at each end-use fixture in 15 apartments within two economically diverse green high-rise buildings. Infrared motion loggers recorded occupant presence. Interviews provided sociodemographic data and data about water consuming activities. The average apartment water consumption was 184 L/[capita (cap)·d] in Building #1 and 260 L/(cap·d) in Building #2. A principal component analysis determined that tenant presence in kitchen, kitchen faucet water consumption, cooking frequency, bathroom faucet water consumption, bathtub water consumption, percentage of tenants going to work/school, percentage of children, and percentage of seniors were major contributors to the variability in total per capita water consumption. A water end-use model taking these drivers into account demonstrated that preferences in bathtub and shower consumption exceeded the effects of dish washing and toilet leaks. When considered in relation to overall water consumption in the city, the tenant per capita water consumption in both buildings was similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stick-frame residential construction is renowned for being leaky. Structural insulated panels (SIPs) theoretically resolve the issues with air and thermal leakage, but such construction systems are new to the Australian housing market. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a steel-skinned SIP construction product could resolve air leakage and thermal performance challenges in five climate zones across Australia in 2015. All houses used the same steel SIPs as the main construction element (walls and roof). Airtightness and thermography tests were conducted in each house in winter to identify air and thermal leakage paths. The results show that even first-time users of this product can produce well-sealed homes, but there is a need to address thermal bridging (because of the steel componentry) and to consider the house as a whole system (not just walls and roof). The results of the study raise questions about thermography test procedures and airtightness regulations for naturally ventilated homes in warm-temperature climates. Addressing these issues will assist in the diffusion of innovative construction products and methods to enhance the energy efficiency of housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]