Experimental analyses of impact forces on buildings exposed to fluvial hazards

A 1:30 physical scale model was built, representing the torrential fan of the Schnannerbach torrent (Austria). Measurement devices, installed on the building structures located on the torrential fan, recorded impact forces induced by a set of fluviatile flood scenarios. The measured impact forces were compared to computation results using recently developed calculation approaches and to measurements resulting from experiments with a simplified, homogeneous scale model set-up with a single wall element in a rectangular flume. The results show a clear correlation between the approaching flow heights and the impact forces on exposed buildings. Compared to clear water conditions, bed-load transport and deposition processes highly influence the impact forces due to sediment accumulations close to the buildings on the torrential fan. The gained insights contribute to a better understanding of potentially damage-causing impacts on buildings resulting from the interaction of flood processes and the exposed built environment.