Evaluation of the impact force of the window stopper components strength with plastic material operating under wind gust

Abstract

In recent years, the potential for oscillation of swing-type windows due to wind gusts, with accompanying breakage of stopper components and glass, has come under consideration. Generally, quality assessment support for wind load design restricts attention to cases involving evaluation of the exterior windproof pressure performance of closed windows, as provided for in the Building Standard Law enforcement ordinance and the building load indicators of the Architectural Institute of Japan. However, when a half-open swing-type window is subjected to oscillation by a wind gust, the stopper components of the window will be placed in arbitrary positions not characteristic of the closed structure, and dangers due to dynamic loading are experientially known to occur when a window oscillates due to wind gusting and then stops rapidly. A strong wind test was performed to measure the impact force imparted by wind, and the characteristics of the wind energy and resulting impact force were clarified. An impact force evaluation method based on a simple mechanical model was proposed. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the deformation of a plastic stopper component due to an impact force could be modeled via an empirical linear formula, derived experimentally using the impact force imparted in a drop weight load test. The proposed evaluation method is considered to be useful for the safety design of swing-type windows.