Experimental fragility curves for aluminum storm panels subject to windborne debris impact

This paper presents the derivation of experimental fragility curves for windborne debris (WBD) impact risk assessment of aluminum storm panels within a recently developed performance-based hurricane engineering (PBHE) framework. By using a pneumatic wind cannon, rod-type WBDs were fired at aluminum storm panels to evaluate the effects of WBD impact hazard. The experimental data from testing were used to derive the probability of failure relative to specific damage measures (DMs) versus its corresponding interaction parameter (IP). These experimentally derived probabilities were also compared with finite element-based results that were available in the literature.It was found that the impact kinetic energy of rod-type missiles is a sufficient IP for aluminum storm panels subjected to WBD impact, the probability of penetration of aluminum storm panels is strongly dependent on the details of the panels׳ installation, and the numerical results available in the literature regarding the fragility curves of storm panels are qualitatively representative of the behavior of aluminum storm panels subject to WBD impact. It is noteworthy that accurate fragility curves are essential in the development of a general probabilistic performance-based engineering framework for mitigation of WBD impact hazard.