Structures subject to flood hazards

Artelia (formerly Sogreah) was closely involved, alongside the City of Toulouse, in drawing up the Toulouse PPRi, particularly in terms of defining the reference hazards. Alongside these discussions, Artelia was also partly involved in the regulatory aspects of the PPR, under the supervision of the French government Authorities. In order to clarify certain constructive provisions based on theoretical calculations and/or assumptions made by experts in terms of the mechanical resistance of masonry structures and door and window frames to flooding, Artelia was commissioned by the City of Toulouse to carry out “full-scale” tests strictly reproducing some of the configurations taken into consideration.

The test program focused on three configurations:

• The failure of an unloaded traditional masonry wall (mortar-bonded cinder blocks);
• The failure of a traditional masonry wall (mortar-bonded cinder blocks), but loaded at the top in order to reproduce the effects of load drops from an upper level;
• The failure of a single-leaf French window (with predefined dimensions, no base, three hinges, etc., in order to faithfully reproduce the theoretical approaches adopted by the French government).