Prediction of plywood deformation under the impact of windborne debris using Taguchi method

Abstract

Abstract Windstorms and tornados can cause severe damages to different structure types regardless the materials they have been made of. These damages are caused both by the extreme wind velocity and any flying debris within the wind field. Windborne debris is classified based on shape and aerodynamical properties into three types: compact, rod, and plate-like debris. According to both American and Australian Standards, the performance of any structural element is to be tested under the impact of rod-like debris. Plywood is used globally to create both structural and non-structural elements such as doors and window shutters, and thus, in this study, a numerical simulation of rod-like debris was conducted using LS-DYNA to study the effect of debris impact velocity on the deformation of a plywood plate. In this way, the effect of the plate thickness and modulus of elasticity on the deformation were also investigated. Taguchi Method was adopted to make the simulation more robust and reduce the required computational time and costs. The results showed that as the debris impact velocity increased, both the deformation of the plywood plate at penetration and the residual kinetic energy of the debris increased. However, for the same plate thickness and debris impact velocity, as the modulus of elasticity increased, the deformation of the plate at the point of penetration decreased.