Performance-Based Wind Engineering for Wood-Frame Buildings

The majority of buildings and the vast majority of residential structures in North America are constructed using light-frame wood. Many of these structures are subjected to high winds along the eastern seaboard and gulf coast, and as a result routinely suffer damage resulting in financial losses. A relatively new paradigm in the field of earthquake engineering is performance-based design. This paper presents the concept of performance-based wind engineering for wood-frame buildings through the development and application of fragilities to form different owner/user performance expectations, namely, occupant comfort, continued occupancy, life safety, and structural integrity. The approach includes the development and application of fragility curves. An example analysis and design for a simple light-frame wood building for all four performance expectations is presented. The final design of the building needed to achieve the specified levels of structural performance are discussed for each performance expectation level.