Experimental Investigation of Wind-Driven Rain Propagation in a Building Interior

Abstract

Posthurricane surveys have shown that building interior damage often results from water intrusion into the building interior. The interior damage can make up 50%–100% of the total building loss; therefore, its accurate evaluation and quantification are necessary for estimation of hurricane losses. In this research, water propagation into a building’s interior was experimentally investigated. Large-scale building models with gable and hip roofs were tested for three exterior damage states. The results showed that for the light damage state, the very small area of the roof and wall defects and breaches does not allow wind circulation inside the building, and as a result, the rain affected only localized areas with defects. However, for the more severe damage states, the areas of breaches were large enough to allow wind circulation inside the building, and the water propagation path is highly affected by the internal wind flow. The findings from the current study can be implemented in hurricane loss models and improve their accuracy by estimating the water distribution inside the building.