Project shelter, Part 2: Structural verification

Abstract

As part of the Fondef D09I1058 project, an emergency housing solution was developed and five prototypes constructed. The prototypes solved mechanical, thermal, water tightness and airtightness problems common to emergency housing, achieving a minimum durability of five years. Emergency housing does not fall under the jurisdiction of permanent housing codes, hence, there are no requirements that these houses must meet. A first step towards establishing minimum requirements is the evaluation of the current emergency housing solutions. This paper presents the structural evaluation of these prototypes. The prototypes were fabricated with "structural insulated panels" (SIPs), which provide structural strength and thermal insulation, for four thermal zones of the country. All the prototypes presented adequate structural performance. Out of all the locations considered, only two houses presented minor strength problems in the roof structure, but almost satisfied the requirements indicated by the codes for permanent social housing. In the case of the floor diaphragms, only one prototype fell short 97.5% of the required strength, which was considered acceptable this emergency housing. For the walls, laboratory tests, performed applying lateral and out-of-plane loads on the panels that compose the prototypes, established that they could withstand the design earthquake loads and wind loads.