Risk-based cost-benefit analysis of climate adaptation measures for Australian contemporary houses under extreme winds

Abstract

Climate adaptation measures improve housing resilience to extreme winds, and reduce economic losses associated with wind and rainfall damage under a changing climate. Several adaptation measures are adopted in this study for Australian contemporary houses subjected to non-cyclonic windstorms to either reinforce the building envelope or increase the water resistance of building interior. A risk-based cost-benefit analysis is conducted to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these adaptation measures that considers the effect of construction defects. It was found that the annual expected losses for houses in Brisbane with construction defects are considerably higher than those without considering construction defects, whereas the influence of construction defects is lower for the Melbourne houses. The cost-benefit analysis reveals that strengthening windows is cost-effective for Brisbane and Melbourne houses. Installing window shutters significantly reduces economic risks associated with extreme winds and is costeffective for houses in Brisbane. Adaptation measures are generally not cost-effective for Melbourne houses due to lower extreme wind speed and associated rainfall.

Wind-uplift fragility analysis of roof sheathing for cultural heritage assets in the Philippines

“…Therefore, the accurate and effective prediction of roof damage caused by strong wind plays a key role in the identification of highly-vulnerable assets and the development of optimal retrofitting strategies for those assets (e.g. [14]).…”

Adaptation of Housing to Climate Change and Extreme Windstorms

“…The risk reduction R can then be calculated by comparing the cumulative risks with and without implementing the adaptation measure. See details in Qin and Stewart [26]. The results suggest that installing window shutters (WS) is the most effective adaptation measure that the mean R is approximately 95%.…”

“…The adaptation measures applied at the initial design and construction are RF and WR, whereas window shutters (WS) can be installed at any time during the service life to retrofit an existing house. The cost is the additional money spent on the adaptation measure, which is considered as a [26] for more details one-off expense. The adaptation costs presented in Table 6.3 are estimated from an Australian housing construction cost guide [30].…”

“…The risk assessment can be conducted considering different risk reduction measures applied to housing, which enables the cost-benefit evaluation for windstorm mitigation (e.g. Qin and Stewart [26]).…”

Foreword from the editor-in-chief: the inaugural issue of journal of infrastructure preservation and resilience

“…Specifically, their research "applies a susceptible-impactedsusceptible (SIS) diffusion model to capture the impact of flooding on the road network connectivity" and they demonstrated the developed method using the road network in a Houston neighborhood. Qin and Stewart [6] have conducted a risk-based costbenefit analysis for climate adaptation measures adopted "for Australian contemporary houses subjected to noncyclonic windstorms". Their research provides new insights into the risks and costs induced by construction defects in the specific adaptation measures and the regional differences in houses.…”