THE ABILITY OF WALL OPENINGS TO REDUCE FLOOD INDUCED FORCES ON RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

Flood induced forces could threaten the stability of residential building during flooding event. The building will have to face the hydrodynamic pressures and sometime impact load from the debris carrying floods. A study on the behavior of flood water movement through external wall were carried out to identify the various wall opening dimensions and its ability to minimize the flood water forces on buildings. Two types of experiments were carried out. First, a water flow table was used to visualize the water pattern diffusion. Next, flood tunnel was used to measure water velocity reduction response of the various walls. The wall opening configurations were based on the common types of wall opening found in Malaysia. Generally, the results show that walls with bigger openings could withstand the water forces better. This is indicated by the smaller velocity reduction and diffusion when the flowing water passes through the wall. However, the level of opening from the ground could change the overall performance of the various opening sizes as shown by some of the models. Therefore, further studies should be carried out to determine suitable dimensional characteristics and level of the wall openings from the ground. This could produce an optimum impact reduction wall design for residential building in flood prone area.