SimuRes
Floods are the most common and costliest natural disasters around the globe. These events are one of the most prominent issues worldwide and affect the whole spectrum of rural-urban continuum resulting in a variety of damages. Floods account for 20-30% of the global economic losses from natural hazards, nearly 18.5 billion US dollars worldwide damage per year. There remains an urgent need for appropriate standards and certification schemes for flood resistant and FRe technology to enable better uptake of resilient measures for properties at high flood risk. In the UK, the National Standards Body (BSi) has produced a publicly available test specification, though this is too narrow in scope to include flood resilient materials and products, approved building details, design and installation.
The SimuRes simulation service is seen as a way of improving (and establishing) flood resilient construction standards through robust testing protocols, innovative computer simulation and research for new materials and products. The new service will create an environment in which innovation is encouraged among the SME manufacturers, suppliers and designers that are prevalent in this sector. The data and findings produced by the simulations will support research and development, testing and certification, training of the labour force, and demonstration and marketing.
SimuRes will represent the cutting edge in research, testing, design and promotion of flood resilient construction methods and technology.
Technology validated in relevant environment.
Fidelity of breadboard technology increases significantly. The basic technological components are integrated with reasonably realistic supporting elements so they can be tested in a simulated environment. Examples include “high-fidelity” laboratory integration of components.
Fidelity of breadboard technology increases significantly. The basic technological components are integrated with reasonably realistic supporting elements so they can be tested in a simulated environment. Examples include “high-fidelity” laboratory integration of components.
SimuRes is at a TRL 5 level as the results obtained from the simulations have been tested and validated using data obtained from both simulated flood tests and from surveying of real buildings that have been damaged by flooding. The results were compared illustrating reliable results on a range of construction details.
How does it work?
Adapting the use of software originally designed for the simulation of moisture in buildings, this methodology combines lab tests of materials, computer simulation of construction details and full-scale tests of construction details in a flood tank to produce validated data on the performance of new materials being developed for the protection of buildings from the damaging effects of flooding. This work has been developed over a 2 year period in collaboration with Oxford Brookes University . This is done by comparing the performance of standard materials and construction details with new materials or innovative construction detailing without assuming the restrictive costs associated with lab tests.
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