Date of Award
2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Committee Chair
Abdullahi Salman
Committee Member
Michael D. Anderson
Committee Member
Ashraf Al-Hamdan
Committee Member
Sampson Gholston
Committee Member
Nasim Uddin
Subject(s)
Dwellings--Hurricane effects--Protection, Climatic changes, Hurricane damage, Structural design
Abstract
Hurricanes are considered one of the most destructive and costly events, posing a significant threat to coastal communities and infrastructures across the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S. This devastating phenomenon is an extreme weather event, and its intensity is known to be impacted by environmental parameters such as sea surface temperature. Due to the predicted increase in the sea surface temperature associated with climate change projected, the intensity of future hurricanes is expected to increase substantially. Additionally, the continued population growth of coastal regions and the accompanying increase in the number of residential buildings is increasing the potential vulnerability level of coastal communities. Hence, an increase in hurricane wind intensity due to the impact of climate change is expected to lead to higher structural damage and loss accrued within a region. Additionally, based on historic natural hazard events, it has been observed that the behavior of individuals as well as the social impacts of hurricanes on a community during and after hurricanes vary significantly. All these facts signify the importance and the necessity of a holistic framework that predicts the losses and social implications of intensified future hurricanes due to the impact of climate change in terms of physical, economic, and social metrics. This research presents a framework for socioeconomic vulnerability assessment of residential buildings subjected to hurricane hazards considering the impact of climate change. Additionally, an evaluation of the efficiency and the lifecycle cost-effectiveness of several component-based winds retrofitting measures for wooden-frame residential buildings in the future is done. Such a framework that evaluates the effectiveness of different retrofitting strategies in terms of physical, economic, and social metrics could potentially provide tangible evaluation and valuable insight to stakeholders and decision-makers at the local and federal level in the allocation of limited resources and prioritizing future efforts to improve the resiliency of regions and counties against intensifying hurricane hazards.
Recommended Citation
Salarieh, Babak, "Climate change adaptation and retrofit planning for coastal residential buildings subjected to hurricanes" (2022). Dissertations. 257.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-dissertations/257
Comments
Chapters from this thesis to be published--Advised by graduate school that the student did not want to embargo his dissertation.