Flood capacity assessment of confined masonry school buildings for education disruption assessment

Flood is one of the most common natural hazards that causes fatalities and significant disruption to human life, including to the education delivery through schools. Although the functionality disruption is significant, standing floodwater also causes lateral hydrostatic thrust on outer walls of buildings. This study examines the physical capacity of school buildings against flood loads by means of numerical modelling using Applied Element Method. Masonry buildings with varying levels of confinement are subjected to out-of-plane hydrostatic pressure, to assess the failure mechanisms and to estimate the lateral load carrying capacity, thus identifying the critical collapse depth of water. The study also looks at the effect of material degradation on the ultimate flood capacity. This result is further utilized to estimate physical and functional disruption to education delivery at schools.