Safety Evaluation of a RC Structure with Multiple Openings under High Water Depth Inundations

Abstract

Experimental and numerical studies were conducted to examine the resistance of a newly developed residential building to inundations. Natural disasters including inundations have occurred frequently in recent decades. Once inundations submerge urban areas, water may remain there for days. This can cause substantial economic and social costs. Flood hazards have been widely discussed and investigated. However, sufficient research contributions have not been made on the behaviour of individual buildings under inundations. The objective of the research was to develop a prototype residential building in which residents can stay during inundations without the need of evacuation. A 3-m water depth was the target for safety evaluation in this research. This paper dealt with three tasks. First, three-point bending tests were performed on window components. Second, a hydrostatic pressure test was carried out on a full-scale reinforced concrete (RC) specimen. Third, taking advantage of the preceding two tasks, numerical simulations were performed to examine the behaviour of the prototype building under hydrostatic and hydrodynamic pressures. The experiments and numerical analyses showed that the prototype building had sufficient resistance and waterproofness against the inundations of a 3-m water depth. This research contributed to the improvements of the safety of RC structures against inundations and flood-risk reduction in urban areas.