RAPID: Preservation of 3D Damage Data for Reality-Capture-Enhanced Modeling of Engineered Steel Structures on the Texas Coast Subjected to 2017 Hurricane Harvey

West Texas A&M University

Investigators

Abstract

Hurricane Harvey, the first major hurricane to strike the United States in nearly a decade, made landfall near Rockport, Texas, on August 25, 2017, and caused substantial wind damage to steel and cold-formed steel buildings in this area. This Grant for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) will use the West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) laser scanner and digital cameras, recently acquired through an NSF Major Research Instrumentation grant, to capture and preserve digital 3D models of steel buildings damaged in the Rockport area during this hurricane. The building models will be shared with other researchers through the NSF-supported Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Data Depot (https://www.designsafe-ci.org) to better understand the behavior of steel structures subjected to high winds and advance new design methodologies and mitigation techniques for hurricane-resilient buildings. In this RAPID study, the relatively new WTAMU engineering program will obtain a significant hurricane damage dataset that can position the faculty for research collaborations with other academic institutions. This study will also provide pathways for advanced research topics for undergraduate students, and collaborations with other research institutions will provide exposure and foster encouragement for undergraduate students to pursue graduate education. This project will collect and archive damage data for engineered (industrial) steel and cold-formed steel buildings affected by winds generated by Hurricane Harvey in the Rockport area. The relatively simple load paths of such buildings make them ideal for early exploration of "reality-capture-enhanced" modeling techniques. Although buildings are designed to have certain minimum strengths and to resist certain minimum wind speeds, buildings generally have strength above and beyond their intended design strengths. Often it is not known exactly how much "reserve" strength such buildings have (and what wind speeds are required to cause damage) unless they are damaged by winds of known speeds. Because Hurricane Harvey's approximate landfall location was predicted in advance, wind scientists and engineers were able to position specialized equipment in the path of the storm to measure the wind speeds. As a result, records of wind speeds throughout the area affected by the high winds of Hurricane Harvey are now available, and researchers are able to correlate various types of building damage with wind speeds. The project will target buildings within areas of various known wind speeds that exhibit a range of damage levels. The research team will utilize NOAA aerial imagery and Google imagery to assist with the selection of buildings to be investigated. The project will acquire perishable 3D damage data for steel buildings using high-resolution terrestrial laser scanning equipment (LiDAR) as well as digital SLR cameras to acquire images to facilitate the creation of digital photogrammetry models. Preservation of these damage data can facilitate the forensic analysis of steel and cold-formed steel construction for the development or validation of fragility methods, can enable an evaluation of the effectiveness of wind design provisions along the U.S. hurricane coast, and can highlight needs for future research necessary to achieve more hurricane-resilient buildings. The acquired data will enable comparison of LiDAR and photogrammetry information streams - identifying which option may be optimal under specific circumstances (e.g., available equipment, access, personnel, and field reconnaissance time). Interaction with structural modelers will provide feedback regarding the utility of the data captures and adjustments that may be necessary for future forensic studies.