McGinley, W. Mark1; Throop, Diane, B. 2 and Coulbourne, William, L.3
1 Professor, PE, Ph.D, F.ASTM, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville KY, 40292, USA, m.mcginley@lousiville.edu.
2 Principal, PE, F.ASTM, F.TMS, Diane Throop PE, LLC (formerly Director of Engineering, International Masonry Institute), 438 Winchester Lane, Sunset, SC 29685USA, diane@dtpeconsulting.com.
3 Consultant, PE, F.SEI, F.ASCE, 19266 Coastal Highway, Unit 4, #19 Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971, USA, Bill@coulbourneconsulting.com.
ABSTRACT
Urbanization, increases in population, and climate change have placed increasing numbers of the populace in areas subjected to high winds across the globe. In response to this, the 2015 edition of
the International Building Code (IBC) requires that most schools and emergency facilities located in a significant portion of the Central US contain tornado shelters. These shelters must be designed to resist wind speeds up to 250 mph, be tornado debris impact resistant, accommodate all the building occupants and, must meet other requirements described in the ICC 500, Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters. For areas that use the 2015 IBC, this new requirement will impact the majority of new school and emergency facility construction spanning as far north as central Minnesota, as far south as southern Mississippi, and stretching to western Pennsylvania in the east and western Texas to the west. Masonry can provide safe, practical and cost effective solutions for sheltering from tornados and high wind events. For years however, the only masonry solutions that were tested and passed the tornado debris impact testing were solidly grouted masonry walls. This paper will summarize the results of recent tornado missile debris impact tests conducted on partially grouted brick and block cavity wall systems. Also summarized in this paper is an investigation of the use of exterior masonry wall systems in typical school configurations to provide these mandated tornado shelters with minimum increase in costs and changes in design. Both solidly grouted single wythe walls and cavity walls are addressed.
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