Investigation of plate-type windborne debris. Part I. Experiments in wind tunnel and full scale

Modeling of the trajectory of windborne debris for incorporation in wind hazard risk assessment requires the knowledge of debris aerodynamics. On-going experiments to determine the flight characteristics of various types of debris are being carried out in the Texas Tech University (TTU) wind tunnel. This paper investigates the aerodynamic characteristics of plate-type debris. Useful data are presented in dimensionless form. Empirical expressions for estimating the horizontal flight speed and distance are derived. Results from wind-tunnel experiments are in reasonable agreement with those from full-scale tests. These results can be used to validate numerical calculations of trajectories of plate-type windborne debris.