Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane just before landfall, pummeled the high-rise buildings in the downtown and entertainment districts of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, strewing the streets of New Orleans with broken glass, roof top appurtenances, street signs, awnings, aluminum sidings, cladding components, building interior furnishings and fallen trees. Reportedly, locals and tourists seeking vertical evacuation to avoid the floodwaters encountered winds that gushed through broken windows with drenching rains and sent them scurrying for shelter in the interior parts of these high-rise buildings. The NatHaz Modeling Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame ( www.nd.edu/~nathaz ) will conduct a field reconnaissance study to assess first-hand the damage to cladding and glass of high-rise buildings, and will secure perishable information and data. The focus of this study is on gathering surface wind records in the locale of these buildings or in their surrounding areas, and examining the damage to glass and cladding of high-rise buildings. Based on wind directions, availability of flying debris in their path, scenarios for the damage of glass/cladding will be established. This information will be used in correlating wind speeds to the observed damage, in establishing possible causes of damage and in assessing the adequacy of building codes and standards. In light of the breaches in building envelopes through broken glass experienced by many buildings, the potential of these buildings for possible vertical evacuation will be examined from structural integrity and functionality perspectives. The final report will catalog the collected information and observations based on the preliminary analysis for dissemination to other researchers in structural engineering as well as emergency management areas for follow-up studies.
The findings of this study will provide significant input on the performance of glass cladding of buildings in hurricane prone regions. This would assist communities in hurricane areas to assess the condition of their buildings prior to hurricane season for possible retrofits. This study will also provide a critical input to emergency management groups in the coastal regions of U.S. threatened by hurricanes for assessing the viability of vertical evacuation in high-rise buildings.
