Three-Dimensional Flight Trajectories and Impact Damage Prediction Model for Wind-Borne Debris

Abstract

The risk of damage of glass curtain walls in residential areas caused by impact of wind-borne debris has been given increasing importance. In this paper, by incorporating the numerical analysis of three-dimensional (3D) flight trajectories of wind-borne debris and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the local wind environment in the context of buildings group, a novel impact damage prediction model for the glass curtain wall of urban buildings is proposed. To this end, the 3D flight trajectories and characteristics of plate-type debris are first studied by solving the 3D equation of motion of debris, of which the aerodynamic coefficients of plate-type debris is obtained by CFD numerical simulation. The flight characteristics of debris with different initial parameters are analyzed, showing that the properties of debris and initial conditions have significant effect on the flight trajectories and impact position of plate-type debris. Further, an impact damage prediction model for the glass curtain wall of an urban building is proposed. In the proposed model, the flight trajectory analysis of the wind-borne debris is embedded in the context of the local wind environment in a residential area obtained by CFD simulation. The damage caused by the impact of debris on the glass curtain wall of the buildings is then analyzed and illustrated by an example. The proposed model is of great significance for the wind damage analysis of urban building glass curtain walls considering local wind environment and real trajectories of debris.