Case Study: TRC Companies, Inc. proves Hurricane Katrina damage was wind-related and secures insurance settlement with ANSYS Fluent (ANSYS)

Flow Modeling Helps to Prove Hurricane Damage Caused by Wind, Not Water

TRC Companies, Inc. was hired to determine whether a steel storage building damaged during Hurricane Katrina had been deformed by wind or by water—damage the insurer had attributed to water and denied coverage for. To provide more persuasive, geometry- and flow-aware evidence than simple force-vs-wind-speed equations, TRC used ANSYS Fluent from ANSYS to model the wind loading on the structure.

Using ANSYS Fluent, TRC built a 3D model including two upwind structures, applied MM5-modeled and National Hurricane Center–corroborated wind speeds/directions as inlet conditions, and simulated net pressures on all exterior walls. The ANSYS simulations identified two locations with outward pressures large enough to produce the observed damage (matching the actual damage locations), and that evidence helped TRC successfully settle the insurance claim as wind-related.

TRC Companies, Inc.

Lloyd L. Schulman

TRC Companies, Inc.