WINDOWS | TECHNICAL
AWA TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPORT
A VISIT TO THE TOWNSVILLE
CYCLONE TESTING STATION
01
In August this year, the AWA Technical Committee visited the Cyclone Testing
Station at James Cook University, Townsville, to learn more about how windows and
doors perform in severe weather events.
RUSSELL HARRIS
Technical Manager,
Australian Window
Association
F
or over 30 years, the Cyclone Testing Station
(CTS) has been at the forefront of damage
investigations after cyclones and other severe
wind events with the aim of understanding which
building products and systems performed well
and identifying areas for improvement in building
regulations and standards.
Post-cyclone investigations conducted by the CTS,
data from the insurance industry and accounts
from building occupants affected by cyclones
frequently show that water ingress and damage
from wind-borne debris impact represents the
majority of total damage.
The consequences of this damage does not
necessarily result in structural damage to the
property, though in many cases the home is
rendered unliveable for some time while the
necessary repairs to carpets, furniture and internal
building elements are made. This is further
compounded by the wide-spread nature of large
storms causing available resources to be stretched
to capacity leading to substantial repair delays.
For more information, please
forward your enquiry to
[email protected]
36 Summer 2017
Cyclone Debbie, which crossed the coast on 28
March, 2017, as a category-four system, caused
widespread damage to buildings in the area
between Bowen and Mackay - the most severe
damage occurred in and around the communities
of Bowen, Proserpine, Airlie Beach and Hamilton
Island. Subsequent flooding affected communities
as far as the Whitsundays to the northern parts of
New South Wales.
Over 72,000 Queenslanders requested assistance.
As at June 28, insurers had received more than
58,000 claims stretching from North Queensland
to northern New South Wales, with a total value of
$988 million. More than 80 per cent of claims were
for damage to home and home contents.
International catastrophe insurance data firm,
PERILS, estimates losses in the property insurance
market related to the storm at $1.4 billion.
Interestingly, it is apparent from the CTS
investigations that not all windows or doors leak
the same way when exposed to severe weather.
Observations made during and after cyclones,
as well as home occupant accounts, indicate that
even when exposed to similar conditions, some
windows seem to allow copious amounts of water
in while others leaked much less and just seem to
‘spit’ water.
Windows observed to fail quite dramatically
presumably have the same (or similar) Water
Pressure Ratings as those that perform better
- which indicates that the ability of a window to
resist static water pressures, as prescribed by
AS 2047, is not necessarily a good indicator of its
ability to resist real world wind driven rain events.
Research and development within the window
and door industry has typically pursued design
innovation and development around compliance
with current standards that require windows
and doors to meet water ratings determined in
accordance with AS 4420.1 using a static water