Development of Independent Direct Measuring System for Aerodynamic Characteristics of Flying Debris

Abstract

In most cases, failures of buildings in strong wind, e.g. typhoon or tornado, are caused by flying debris. In order to reduce the damage to buildings by flying debris, clarifying aerodynamic characteristics of flying debris and evaluating of motion of debris are needed. In this study, the system that measures the aerodynamic characteristics of flying debris directly was developed. A sensor unit assembled with pressure sensors and three axis accelerometer was built in the rectangular shaped model. The model was dropped and the pressure and the acceleration were measured. At the same time, the motion of the model was captured by taking movies with cameras and conducting image analysis.