Evaluation of Tsunami Loads on Wood-Frame Walls at Full Scale

Abstract

The performance of full-scale light-frame wood walls subjected to wave loading was examined using the Large Wave Flume of the Network for Earthquake Engineering (NEES) Tsunami Facility at Oregon State University. The hydrodynamic conditions (water level and bore speed) and structural response (horizontal force, pressure, and deflection) were observed for a range of incident tsunami heights and for several wood wall framing configurations. The walls were tested at the same cross-shore location with a dry-bed condition. For each tsunami wave height tested, the force and pressure profiles showed a transient peak force followed by a period of sustained quasi-static force. The ratio of the transient force to quasi-static force was 2.2. These experimental values were compared with the predicted values using the linear momentum equation, and it was found that the equation predicted the measured forces on the vertical wall within an accuracy of approximately 20% without using a momentum correction coefficient. The experiments also showed that the more flexible 2×4 wall resulted in lower peak forces when compared with 2×6 walls subjected to similar tsunami heights. However, the 2×6 walls were able to withstand larger waves before failure.