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<br /> <br />secured to hooks which had been placed 2 ft apart in the outside wall (Fig- <br />ure 58). A properly sized O-ring was then pushed against the bottom of the <br />reinforced plastic sheeting and into the aluminum channel. The O-ring was <br />fitted against the reinforced plastic and into the aluminum to make a water- <br />resistant seal (Figure 59). The total flood-resistant system consisted of <br />this aluminum channel, plastic sheeting, and the O-ring insert around the base <br />of the entire area of the house. Plywood reinforcement was used over door and <br />window openings. <br />Two particular problems were encountered while constructing this system: <br />o It was difficult to find a material to bond plastic to plastic. A <br />waterproof construction cement was used to bond plastic to plastic at <br />places where plastic was lapped. <br />o Seating the O-ring into the aluminum channel was very difficult. <br />Because of this difficulty, installation was time-consuming. <br />GaKe system <br />Gages were placed on the walls inside the house to measure the wall de- <br />flection. The gage locations and numbering are shown in Table 2. Figure 60 <br />shows some typical gage placements. The wires from the gages were run through <br />windows to an automatic data recording system which was located in a van. <br />Test results <br />The deflections of the walls were recorded during both the loading and <br />unloading of the house. Typical data are presented in Figure 61. <br />Water was obtained from a well and pumped to the test site (Figure 62). <br />The water level was raised slowly on the outside of the house, and as the <br />water level increased, some seepage did occur inside the house. About 1 in. <br />of water leaked into the house during the test in which 4 ft of water flooded <br />the outside. <br />The results demonstrated that house walls are stronger than individual <br />test walls and that a prototype house can withstand approximately 3 ft water- <br />head without damage. <br />The walls of the house were damaged <br />indicated by the test data in Figure 61. <br />deformation in the walls. An inspection <br />had been removed revealed that the brick <br />joints. <br />Plastic was placed over the earth berm and under the aluminum strip to <br />prevent water loss through the highly pervious soil during the test. Some of <br /> <br />by a 4-ft waterhead. This damage is <br />The unloading curves show permanent <br />the next morning after the water load <br />wall had visual cracks in the mortar <br /> <br />68 <br />