A NEW CONCEPT FOR AN FRP PANELIZED RAPID DEPLOYMENT SHELTER

摘要

In the aftermath of a natural disaster, the aid worker is faced with three immediate tasks (1) provide protection from the environment, (2) provide food and resources for the facilitation of life and (3) provide health services for the treatment and prevention of illness. Each of these tasks depends on emergency shelters that can be rapidly deployed and assembled. This paper describes a new panelized concept for a FRP shelter developed by the University of South Florida as part of a research project sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. The size of the panels, their weight and ease of assembly were key constraints in the development of this concept. More importantly, the assembled structure had to withstand Category 4 hurricane force winds. The lightweight, high strength and corrosion resistance of FRP makes them ideally suited for emergency structures that have to be rapidly deployed. A novel panelized concept was developed that integrated the connectors in the panels themselves thereby minimizing the need for additional connectors and greatly simplifying construction. This integration made it possible for the assembled structure to resist very high wind uplift forces. The individual panels are less than 0.914m (36") wide and each section has four trapezoidal boxes that allow units to slide into each other and interlock. The concept is versatile and could be readily adapted for alternative applications such as bridge deck replacement.