Quinn
May 4th, 2007, 10:25 PM
While Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 were fueled by very different forces, they caused damage to structures in surprisingly similar ways, a new study finds.
The study, including a photographic survey of the damage Hurricane Katrina did to the Mississippi coast, showed how the force of water — be it from a tsunami or a hurricane — can lift away buildings or snatch the soil out from under them.
The findings could lead to new design code that would save many lives in such natural disasters.
What happens
The majority of the damage to buildings during a hurricane comes not from the storm’s ferocious winds, but from the ocean water those winds rapidly push onshore, called storm surge.
Similarly, the massive waves that can be generated when an ocean or other large body of water is hit by a strong earthquake or volcanic eruption can cause enormous damage as they slam into structures.
“When it comes to forces on a structure, what happens in a storm surge is very similar to what happens in a tsunami,” said study team member Yin Lu “Julie” Young of Princeton University. Both phenomena cause two types of forces on buildings: horizontal pushes against structures and upward pushes against upper floors.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269903,00.html
The study, including a photographic survey of the damage Hurricane Katrina did to the Mississippi coast, showed how the force of water — be it from a tsunami or a hurricane — can lift away buildings or snatch the soil out from under them.
The findings could lead to new design code that would save many lives in such natural disasters.
What happens
The majority of the damage to buildings during a hurricane comes not from the storm’s ferocious winds, but from the ocean water those winds rapidly push onshore, called storm surge.
Similarly, the massive waves that can be generated when an ocean or other large body of water is hit by a strong earthquake or volcanic eruption can cause enormous damage as they slam into structures.
“When it comes to forces on a structure, what happens in a storm surge is very similar to what happens in a tsunami,” said study team member Yin Lu “Julie” Young of Princeton University. Both phenomena cause two types of forces on buildings: horizontal pushes against structures and upward pushes against upper floors.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269903,00.html