A multichamber, pressure-based test method to determine wind loads on air-permeable, multilayer cladding systems

Abstract

Current standardized testing on air-permeable multilayer cladding is inaccurate since one of the primary parameters for setting the peak net wind loads across the cladding is the external pressure gradient, which is removed from all standardized testing. After implementing a latex-barrier system and examining the control strategy for the pressure loading actuators, a multichamber airbox system for testing air-permeable multilayer cladding is developed and compared to a benchmark study performed by the Insurance Research Lab for Better Homes. The results indicate that using multichamber, pressure-based testing to obtain wind loads for air-permeable, multilayer wall systems with flexible cladding is sufficiently accurate. This method also shows that eliminating temporal variations from the external pressures for easier standardized testing would provide fairly accurate results.