A Conventional House Challenges Simulated Forces of Nature

The structural performance of a full-scale conventional house is not well understood. Past work has generally been limited to the assessment of parts and pieces, but little testing has been accomplished to evaluate the final structure as a three-dimensional unit. To determine the influence of each component as it contributes to over all performance, a house was constructed in the laboratory and tested during progressive stages of construction. Resistance to lateral forces was measured during five stages of construction using concentrated forces. The sixth stage utilized uniform loads and induced progressive modes of structural failures. The racking resistance of the walls parallel to the simulated wind load was adequate. Structural failures occurred in connections between the loaded wall and the floor, and later at the sill plate. A relationship between concentrated forces and uniform loads is presented. Finally, the trussed roof system, commercially fabricated for a 40 lb/ft2 design load, was tested to failure. One web member failed under a uniform live load of 100 lb/ft2 and ultimate load reached 135 lb/ft2.

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