ME 350

Mechanics of Materials Design Project

Dr. Cameron Hawkins







Back Row Incorporated


Farley, Logan
Hottinger, Nicholas
Iodko, Dmitry
Rosin, Sean

















December 12, 2013









Nomenclature

h Height of the cross section of the safe room [ft.]

w Width of the cross section of the safe room [ft.]

V0 Rotational component of winds velocity [ft/s]

F Force on the cross section of the safe room [lbs.]

p Pressure caused by wind speed [lbs/ft
2
]

V Translational component of winds velocity [ft
3
]

A Cross sectional area of safe room [ft
2
]

m Mass of the projectile [lbs. mass]

Density of projectile [lbs/ft
3
]

r Radius of the tornado [ft.]

v Volume of projectile [ft
3
]

M Maximum moment [lbs*ft]

V Maximum Shear [lbs]

I Area moment of Inertia [ft
4
]

Axial Stress caused from axial load [psi]

Bending Stress caused from bending load [psi]

W Weight of the structure [lbs]

torsion Shear caused by torsion [psi]

Bending Shear caused by bending [psi]

C Centroidal distance [ft]

Am Area enclosed by median line of thin walled structure [ft
2
]







Problem Statement

The 2011 tornado season was one of the worst in recent history. Consider that the 7th most
deadly tornado in U.S. history was recorded during May of 2011. The E-5 category twister
crashed through the city of Joplin Missouri on May 22 leaving a trail of destruction and
taking 157 lives. This tornado had winds in excess of 200 MPH and was approximately of
a mile wide and wreaked a 6-mile long path of destruction obliterating countless houses
and structures throughout the city of Joplin. With the climate changing and unstable
weather becoming the norm, measures need to be taken to ensure the residents that live
throughout Tornado Alley
1
have a fighting chance against these deadly tornadoes that seem
to be growing in occurrence and deadliness. This can be achieved with tornado safe rooms.
The three main design criteria for safe rooms are cost, safety and usability. Tornado
resistant structures do not represent a new concept, but most people lack the economic
means to have one built within their house. With an increasing population in the Midwest
there is a corresponding increase in the amount of people that are in harms way due to
these deadly storms. To tackle this problem many variables need to be considered,
culminating in some sort of protection for residents if a tornado touches down in their city.



A customer has asked our team to design a tornado shelter for use inside their home. The
customer expects to be kept safe in the event of an E-5 twister, and demands that their
family also be able to squeeze in should the catastrophe occur. We do not know anything
about the family demographics. Failure to design the shelter correctly could lead to
structural failure and in rare cases may result in injury or death.

Careful consideration will be made to ensure the safety and reliability of the product.








1
Tornado Alley: a vast part of the mid-west of the United States prone to twisters due to its positioning in
relation to the jet stream and low-lying geographic region (Tornado Information, 2012).
Design Criteria

According to the National Climatic Data Center:

Overall, most tornadoes (around 77 percent) in the U.S. are considered weak
(EF0 or EF1) and about 95 percent of all U.S. tornadoes are below EF3
intensity. The remaining small percentage of tornadoes are categorized as
violent (EF3 and above). Of these violent twisters, only a few (0.1 percent of
all tornadoes) achieve EF5 status, with estimated winds over 200 mph and
nearly complete destruction. However, given that on average over 1000
tornadoes hit the U.S. each year, which means that 20 can be expected to be
violent and possibly one might be incredible (EF5). (U.S. tornado
climatology, 2013)

This is one of the major challenges that need to be evaluated when creating the tornado safe
room. It costs substantially more money to design a safe room that is rated for an E-5
tornado, i.e. a tornado with wind speeds in excess of 200 mph, and when there is such a
small chance that one will ever strike a given city, is that extra cost even worth it? When
having a structure that can withstand an E3 or E4 category storm, which would still offer an
exponential amount of safely vs. not having any sort of safe room given that an E5 did strike.

Along with the priorities of safety and cost effectiveness, the shelters must be
accessible to everybody. Individuals that are mobility challenged must be taken into
consideration, and these safe rooms need to be accessible to them, so they can also have
protection from the destruction of a tornado.












Potential Solutions

The traditional house cellar was a great option before urbanization made the lower
levels less desirable. 50 years ago most houses in the Midwest were built with a cellar or a
basement, and these offered the owners great protection from a storm. But as houses
moved into cities and subdivisions, the basement became unrealistic. This is due to the vast
infrastructure that is buried beneath modern roads. Sewer lines, power, gas, and all other
assortments of modern necessities are located directly underneath the road and run right to
the homes within the cities, and basements would greatly complicate the design of
subdivisions. Building a basement as a tornado structure would also force the homeowners
to have a minimum of two floors in their house. The elderly, who are at most risk during
storms, would be most negatively affected by this change due to their need to negotiate
stairs. Because of this obstacle, there must be an alternative solution to a basement or cellar
shelter that allows the immobile the same protection as everyone else.

There are a few locations within the house that the tornado shelter could be placed, ideally
on the first floor. If the shelter was moved to the second floor, it would have a higher
potential energy (should the house collapse around it) and a greater chance of becoming
mobile in a storm. On top of this, a second flood tornado shelter again presents an obstacle
to safety for persons with more limited mobility.

We can conclude then, that the options of using either sub stories or upper stories as a
shelter is not a feasible solution to our problem. The last option is the strong room that is
built into house plans. This room wouldnt add any additional footage to the house because
it could double as a closet, or laundry room, or any other small room within the houses. The
only criteria is that the room needs to be windowless, and be in the center of the house in
order to provide the most protection from the relentless storm outside.

There doesnt have to be additional analysis for the 2 other options because they fail the
design criteria right off the bat.






Analysis

Assumptions:

1. To simplify the analysis of the tornado safe-room, an assumption has to be made
that the safe room is the last remaining structure of the house during a tornado. If
this werent assumed, there would have to be extensive experimentation to
determine which parts of the house might remain standing, and which sections
would fail during the storm. Assuming that the tornado structure is the last
remaining part of the house, we can infer a worst-case scenario there is nothing to
shield the safe room from the forces produced by the tornado.

2. The safe room must stand alone, i.e. the supports that hold the safe room to the
house will sustain immense structural damage (i.e. fail) before the room itself fails
under the stress of the storm. If this werent the case, the supports that hold the
structure in the house would create additional stresses and forces on the room,
which creates a computationally difficult situation for a mechanics analysis.
Inclusion of these elements would require testing, once again, to see how the house
reacts to the wind and which parts of the house fail; in order to know which of the
forces would directly affect the safe room.






















Determination of the Forces on the Structure:

The wind speed for the storm will create a distributed load across the cross
sectional area of the tornado room. There are two components of the winds velocity during
a tornado: tangential winds produced by the rotation of the storm, and translational winds
caused by the tornado cell moving. These storms systems are rarely stationary, so both of
these winds have to be accounted for in order to design the safest and most cost effective
shelter.



































Figure 1 shows the modeled view of the tornado after
streamlining the geometry in order to simply the analysis
of the forces created by the winds of the storm, and the
flying projectiles caused by the tornado.
w
V0
h
V

Figure 2: A quick rendering of the shelter as weve calculated the stresses
Modle View of Winds Acting over Structure:




Figure 3: Air (our fluid) strikes the front face of a cubic shape and splits around
the outer walls. Two areas of turbulence are created behind the structure, and
the fluid continues moving past the object



Figure 4: More complicated views of cubic streamlines largest force occurs at the forward face.





*To determine the magnitude of the force, simplifications had to be made to the general
structure of the tornado. For this analysis the tornado will be modeled as a cylinder, with
the winds acting tangential to the cross section of the room as well as the translational
winds acting perpendicular to the cross section of the room. The total wind speed caused by
the tornado, i.e. from rotational and translation winds speed can be found from the law of
super position; both of the speeds are vectors and can be added as such.








Equations Used in determining forces caused by Tornado:


Equation 1

With the total winds speed known, the tornados force on a structure can be found using:



Equation 2

Where p is the wind pressure on the building, Dc is the drag coefficient for the particular
cross section, and A being the cross sectional area of the room. The drag coefficient for a
rectangular box is approximately 2.1, which is the shape that will be used to design the safe
room.


Since winds speeds vary with distance from the ground, the wind pressure has to be found
using Equation. 3.


Equation 3

The distributed force over the structure is only half of the issue. As the tornado rips across
the countryside or through cities, the storm picks up the debris and hurtles it in every which
direction. So not only does the structure have to withstand gale force winds, but aslo the
onslaught of projectiles that accompany. According to Kristin Leigh Crawford (2012):

Wind-borne debris is considered a major source of damage during strong
windstorms such as hurricanes and tornadoes. After wind-induced failure,
building components can become airborne as missiles and cause significant
damage to the surrounding structuresThe most common types of tornado-
generated missiles are 2x4 inch timber planks weighing 12-15 lbs. [with]
speeds of up to 150 mph (Crawford, K).


Even with the projectiles not increasing their velocities, i.e. accelerating, they still
experience a local acceleration due to the rotation of the tornado. And through the study of
dynamics and objects in motions, the force caused by this projectile can be approximated
as:

Equation 4

For this equation the mass of the projectile has be determined and that can be done
through:

Equation 5

Rearranging the above equation:



After solving Equation 4 and Equation 5, the force caused by projectile during a tornado is
given by:


Equation 6

From equation 2 and Equation 6, the total force on structures can be determined for a
variety of wind speeds and projectiles.

Using these forces a maximum normal and shear stress can be determined. For normal
stress both axial and bending stress need to be taken into account. The axial stress can be
described using the equation:

Equation 7

Where W is the total weight of the room and A is the cross sectional area. The cross
sectional area of the room can be found using the equation

Equation 8

Where b and h are the lengths of one side of the room. In the room we are designing the
total room will cover an 8 by 8 ft area, making both b and h the same. We will also be using
6 in thick walls all around the room, making both the inside b and h of the side to be 7 ft.
The weight can be determined using the equation

Equation 9
(

)



In which the cross-sectional area is multiplied by the total height of the room, in our design
this is 8 ft, and added to the volume of the roof, which is a 7ft. by 7ft. square with a depth of
6 in. The total room volume is then multiplied by a specific weigh of a material to get the
total weight of the structure. From here the other portion of normal stress, the bending
stress, needs to be determined using equation 10.

Equation 10

The moment, M, can be determined using the previously discussed forces and c is the
distance from the neutral axis to edge of our cross-sectional piece, in our case it will always
be 4 ft. The moment of inertia, I, can be determined using equation 11.

Equation 11

Using the discovered values a total normal can be determined using equation 12, in which
both the axial and bending stresses and added together.

Equation 12

To find the total shear stress both the bending shear and torsional shear need to be
accounted for as both are being applied to this structure. The Bending shear can be
determined using equation 13.

Equation 13

This equation uses the maximum shear, V, which can be determined by the previously
discussed forces acting on the structure. The moment of inertia I, is the same as previously
discussed in equation 11, and as previously described b, the length of the bottom of the
cross-section is always 8 ft for our design. Q, the first moment, can be found using equation
14.

Equation 14



This is simply the area above the neutral axis multiplied by the centroidal distance above
the neutral axis, y. This distance can be determined by breaking up the area above the
neutral axis into sections. The torsional shear stress is determined using equation 15 in
which the structure is assumed to be thin walled.

Equation 15

The thickness, t, is determined by length of the outside minus the length of the inside, and
because this is a thin walled approximation this value is found to be 0.5 ft. The area in the
thin-walled approximation, Am, is a property of the cross-section and can be found using
equation 16.

Equation 16

The torque, T, is determined using the force or the wind, as can be seen in equation 17.
Equation 17

The total shear stress can then be found using equation 18.

Equation 18

Analysis

From these equations, for a tornado safe room made out of 2014-T6 aluminum: the forces,
shear, bending as well as price can be seen below in table 1.

Table 1 important value from Aluminum analysis
Wind Speeds
(mph) Max M (lbs*ft) Max V (Lbs) Total Shear (psi) Total Bending (psi) Cost (USD)
200 1.071E+04 5.259E+03 4.026E+04 -2.226E+05 14352.8
205 1.124E+04 5.520E+03 4.229E+04 -2.248E+05 14352.8
210 1.177E+04 5.788E+03 4.438E+04 -2.269E+05 14352.8
215 1.232E+04 6.062E+03 4.651E+04 -2.292E+05 14352.8
220 1.288E+04 6.343E+03 4.869E+04 -2.315E+05 14352.8
225 1.346E+04 6.630E+03 5.093E+04 -2.338E+05 14352.8
230 1.404E+04 6.923E+03 5.321E+04 -2.362E+05 14352.8
235 1.464E+04 7.223E+03 5.555E+04 -2.387E+05 14352.8
240 1.526E+04 7.530E+03 5.793E+04 -2.412E+05 14352.8
245 1.588E+04 7.843E+03 6.037E+04 -2.437E+05 14352.8
250 1.652E+04 8.162E+03 6.285E+04 -2.463E+05 14352.8
255 1.717E+04 8.488E+03 6.539E+04 -2.490E+05 14352.8
260 1.784E+04 8.820E+03 6.797E+04 -2.517E+05 14352.8
265 1.851E+04 9.159E+03 7.061E+04 -2.544E+05 14352.8
270 1.920E+04 9.504E+03 7.329E+04 -2.573E+05 14352.8
275 1.991E+04 9.855E+03 7.603E+04 -2.601E+05 14352.8
280 2.062E+04 1.021E+04 7.882E+04 -2.630E+05 14352.8
285 2.135E+04 1.058E+04 8.165E+04 -2.660E+05 14352.8
290 2.209E+04 1.095E+04 8.454E+04 -2.690E+05 14352.8
295 2.285E+04 1.133E+04 8.748E+04 -2.721E+05 14352.8
300 2.362E+04 1.171E+04 9.046E+04 -2.752E+05 14352.8


This grade of aluminum has a yield strength of 60,00 psi. With the factor of safety of 3.0
integrated in the maximum allowable stress is 20,000 psi. This material will vastly outlast
the winds speed and the forces from the projectiles, but the cost of the structure is far more
than what can be spent by the average family.






-The second choice is to create the safe room out of a cheaper material and we choose that
material to be granite.

Table 2 Important Values from granite evaluation
Wind Speeds
(mph) Max M (lbs*ft) Max V (Lbs) Total Shear (psf) Total Bending (psf) Cost (USD)
200 1.071E+04 5.259E+03 342.99 -1584.89 2358.60
205 1.124E+04 5.520E+03 360.26 -1599.69 2358.60
210 1.177E+04 5.788E+03 377.96 -1614.85 2358.60
215 1.232E+04 6.062E+03 396.08 -1630.38
2358.60
220 1.288E+04 6.343E+03 414.63 -1646.27
2358.60
225 1.346E+04 6.630E+03 433.61 -1662.53
2358.60
230 1.404E+04 6.923E+03 453.01 -1679.16
2358.60
235 1.464E+04 7.223E+03 472.84 -1696.19
2358.60
240 1.526E+04 7.530E+03 493.10 -1713.50
2358.60
245 1.588E+04 7.843E+03 513.78 -1731.23
2358.60
250 1.652E+04 8.162E+03 534.89 -1749.31
2358.60
255 1.717E+04 8.488E+03 556.43 -1767.76
2358.60
260 1.784E+04 8.820E+03 578.39 -1786.58
2358.60
265 1.851E+04 9.159E+03 600.78 -1805.79
2358.60
270 1.920E+04 9.504E+03 623.59 -1825.31
2358.60
275 1.991E+04 9.855E+03 646.84 -1845.22
2358.60
280 2.062E+04 1.021E+04 670.50 -1865.50
2358.60
285 2.135E+04 1.058E+04 694.60 -1886.15
2358.60
290 2.209E+04 1.095E+04 719.12 -1907.15
2358.60
295 2.285E+04 1.133E+04 744.07 -1928.53
2358.60
300 2.362E+04 1.171E+04 769.44 -1950.27
2358.60


As can be seen in the table the cost of this material is significantly less than that of the
aluminum alloy. While this would be an acceptable range for the cost of the material, the
cost of working and shaping the material into the desired and required shape for our design
may be significant, and it could be difficult to get an entire solid piece for the shelter. The
ultimate stress for granite can be up to 40,000 psi. As seen in table 2 the stress is well
within this range, so the material will easily be able to stand up to the force from the winds
and projectiles.




Appendix 1:



Table 3 Important values used in determining wind speeds and stresses on structure
Wind
Speeds
(mph)
Force from
wind (psf)
F Projectile
(lbs)
Drag
Coefficient
p (wind
pressure)
Projectile
Densily
(lbs/ft^3)
volume
(ft^3)
Radius
(ft)
Total
Force
200 215.0 195.88 2.1 102.4 25 0.444 1275 10321.9
205 225.9 195.88 2.1 107.6 25 0.444 1275 10844.5
210 237.1 195.88 2.1 112.9 25 0.444 1275 11379.9
215 248.5 195.88 2.1 118.3 25 0.444 1275 11928.3
220 260.2 195.88 2.1 123.9 25 0.444 1275 12489.5
225 272.2 195.88 2.1 129.6 25 0.444 1275 13063.7
230 284.4 195.88 2.1 135.4 25 0.444 1275 13650.7
235 296.9 195.88 2.1 141.4 25 0.444 1275 14250.7
240 309.7 195.88 2.1 147.5 25 0.444 1275 14863.6
245 322.7 195.88 2.1 153.7 25 0.444 1275 15489.3
250 336.0 195.88 2.1 160.0 25 0.444 1275 16128.0
255 349.6 195.88 2.1 166.5 25 0.444 1275 16779.6
260 363.4 195.88 2.1 173.1 25 0.444 1275 17444.0
265 377.5 195.88 2.1 179.8 25 0.444 1275 18121.4
270 391.9 195.88 2.1 186.6 25 0.444 1275 18811.7
275 406.6 195.88 2.1 193.6 25 0.444 1275 19514.9
280 421.5 195.88 2.1 200.7 25 0.444 1275 20231.0
285 436.7 195.88 2.1 207.9 25 0.444 1275 20959.9
290 452.1 195.88 2.1 215.3 25 0.444 1275 21701.8
295 467.8 195.88 2.1 222.8 25 0.444 1275 22456.6
300 483.8 195.88 2.1 230.4 25 0.444 1275 23224.3















Table 4 Important values used in determining wind speeds and stresses on structure continued
Axial Stress
(psf)
Bending
Stress (psf)
Max Stress
(psf)
Torsional
Shear (psf)
Torque
(ft*lbs)
V Shear
(psf)
Total Shear
(psf)
1242.67 303.40 -1546.06 244.67 13762.56 34.90 279.57
1242.67 318.19 -1560.86 257.05 14459.29 36.64 293.69
1242.67 333.36 -1576.02 269.75 15173.22 38.42 308.16
1242.67 348.89 -1591.55 282.74 15904.36 40.24 322.98
1242.67 364.78 -1607.45 296.05 16652.70 42.10 338.15
1242.67 381.04 -1623.71 309.66 17418.24 44.00 353.66
1242.67 397.66 -1640.33 323.57 18200.99 45.95 369.52
1242.67 414.65 -1657.32 337.79 19000.93 47.94 385.74
1242.67 432.01 -1674.68 352.32 19818.09 49.98 402.30
1242.67 449.73 -1692.40 367.15 20652.44 52.05 419.21
1242.67 467.82 -1710.48 382.29 21504.00 54.17 436.47
1242.67 486.27 -1728.93 397.74 22372.76 56.33 454.07
1242.67 505.08 -1747.75 413.49 23258.73 58.54 472.03
1242.67 524.27 -1766.93 429.54 24161.89 60.79 490.33
1242.67 543.81 -1786.48 445.91 25082.27 63.08 508.99
1242.67 563.73 -1806.39 462.57 26019.84 65.41 527.99
1242.67 584.01 -1826.67 479.55 26974.62 67.79 547.34
1242.67 604.65 -1847.32 496.83 27946.60 70.21 567.04
1242.67 625.66 -1868.33 514.41 28935.78 72.67 587.08
1242.67 647.03 -1889.70 532.31 29942.17 75.17 607.48
1242.67 668.77 -1911.44 550.50 30965.76 77.72 628.22





















Conclusion:

Our team set out to design a tornado shelter which would be safe, easily accessible, and cost
effective for any family living in Tornado Alley. Based on our analysis, it would be possible
to design a safe and accessible shelter. However, the third criteria is more difficult to meet,
as a shelter which is large enough to hold a family and strong enough to withstand direct
hits from flying debris costs a substantial amount of money.

It would be possible to design our shelter as we described in our report and based on the
three (initial) potential solutions basement, second floor, or first floor, we still stand by
the decision to locate the shelter at ground level.

Based on the material options: Aluminum or Granite, it would be best to construct the
shelter out of granite.

There will always be a need for structures that can accommodate folks who are mobility
impaired. The investment in a tornado shelter is substantial, but for the price of a standard
car, a family can ensure that they will be safe should a twister ever threaten their livelihood.

If the funding can be found, our project might be built and may eventually save lives. Until
then, seeking shelter the basement or a closet will have to suffice.



















References

Andress, K. (2004, March 23). Wind Loads. Retrieved
from http://k7nv.com/notebook/topics/windload.html
Crawford, K. (n.d.). Experimental and Analytical Trajectories of Simplified Debris Models in
Tornado Winds. Retrieved from
http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3309&context=etd
Elert, G. (2013). Aerodynamic Drag. Retrieved from http://physics.info/drag/
Goodno, Barry & Gere, James. (2013). Mechanics of Materials. Connecticut: Cengage
Learning
U.S Department of Commerce, (2012). 2011 tornado information. Retrieved from National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/2011_tornado_information.html
U.S Department of Commerce, (2013). U.S. tornado climatology. Retrieved from National
Climatic Data Center website:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/severeweather/tornadoes.html