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<br />PART II: STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF BRICK-VENEER <br />AND CONCRETE-BLOCK WALL BUILDINGS <br /> <br />The evaluation of the structural integrity of brick-veneer and concrete- <br />block wall buildings is important in the study of systems to protect buildings <br />from floodwaters. It is better to allow water to enter a building than to <br />subject it to water loads which will structurally damage or collapse the <br />walls. Flooded buildings may be reusable once they have been cleaned and the <br />water damages repaired. Thus, before an attempt is made to make buildings <br />flood resistant, the flood risk must be carefully evaluated and a flood- <br />resistant design level established. <br />The height of water loads that a building can safely support must be <br />known to make a decision about the acceptable method of flood protection. For <br />example, a membrane system has no supporting capacity and cannot be used where <br />the floodwater heights exceed the safe loading for the building. <br />The phenomenon of how the buildings support the water loads is important <br />in examining the weakest link in flood proofed construction and in considering <br />building modifications. <br />There are many variables affecting the response of a brick-veneer and <br />block wall; therefore, the approach used here was to obtain experimental data <br />by testing three brick-veneer and two block walls, analyze these data, perform <br />analytical computations, and compare them to the experimental data, then draw <br />conclusions. <br /> <br />Brick-Veneer Wall Tests <br /> <br />Of the three brick-veneer walls built for testing, Wall 1 (Figure 3) was <br />a typical end wall of a home. In supporting loads, this wall is most critical <br />because the top plate has no roof rafter and ceiling joist restraints to <br />transfer resistance through the wall ties to the brick-veneer wall. Wall 2 <br />and Wall 3 differed from Wall 1 as follows: <br />. Wall 2 had a 3-ft* door in its center (Figure 4). <br />. Wall 3 had roof rafter and ceiling joist restraints (Figure 5). <br /> <br />* A table of factors for converting non-S1 to SI (metric) units of measure- <br />ment is presented on page 2. <br /> <br />7 <br />