Making Better Shelter Better: Structural Analysis and Design Improvement of a Refugee Shelter

Abstract

This thesis offers analysis and an expansion of the design of the Better Shelter, a new 5-person refugee shelter model. It examines the needs of disaster relief and refugee shelters from scholarly research and the recommendations of aide agencies. An evaluation of the structural properties of the Better Shelter components supports a detailed explanation and analysis of the Better Shelter structural system under expected gravity and wind loads, which proves that the maximum loads it claims to withstand are indeed safe. From this analysis, a new design is developed that can serve as a community space using only the components of a Better Shelter. Fully analyzing the design options for a larger shelter produces an efficient truss to support the wider roof and adjustments to support the increased vertical and lateral loads.