Design Guide – Wind Design for Hospitals

The Design Guide – Wind Design for Hospitals 12 hour PDH online course is a part of the Structural category courses. Even a well-designed, constructed, and maintained hospital may be damaged by a wind event much stronger than one the building was designed for. However, except for tornado damage, this sce­nario is a rare occurrence. Rather, most damage occurs because various building elements have limited wind resistance due to inadequate design, poor installation, or material deterioration.

This course provides guidelines on structural, building envelope, and nonstructural building systems, and illustrates various types of wind-induced damage that affect them. Numerous examples of best practices pertaining to new and existing hospitals are presented and recommended design guidelines are suggested. Incorporating those practices appli­cable to specific projects will result in greater wind-resistance reliability and will, therefore, decrease expenditures for repair of wind-damaged fa­cilities, provide enhanced protection for occupants, and avoid disruption of critical services.

This course is based on Chapter 4 of FEMA 577, “Design Guide for Improving Hospital Safety in Earthquakes, Floods, and High Winds: Providing Protection to People and Buildings”.

This course is intended for use by civil  and structural engineers, design and construction professionals, owners, facility managers, students and others interested in learning about seismic design for hospitals.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to explain and will gain the following knowledge and skills:

• Describe the nature and probability of wind occurrence, as well as wind / building interaction
• Explain impact of high winds to hospitals (and buildings in general) and describe types of damage
• Categorize risks from high winds for both new and existing buildings
• Explain general hospital design principles related to high winds
• Explain high wind best practice and requirements for structural systems, building envelope, non-structural components and municipal utilities
• Categorize and describe remedial works needed on existing buildings in high wind regions
• Apply design guidelines in tornado-prone regions