Characteristics of wind and wind-driven rain during tropical thunderstorms

Water leakage of building envelopes is the result of wind and rain acting on the build faces. A good understanding of the wind-driven rain phenomenon will help to prevent water leakage problems. This paper presents the results of observations of a wind-driven rain measuring station in Singapore. It first gives a description of the station which monitors the wind, rain and wind-driven rain. Wind, rain and wind-driven rain measurements taken during thunderstorms are reported. Analyses are carried out to obtain their individual and co-occurrence characteristics. Studies on the variation of wind-driven rain intensity with averaging period are carried out. Results indicate that the short duration intensity can be 20 – 30 times the hourly average. The relationship between wind, rain and the wind-driven rain intensity is also investigated. Result of the driving-rain intensity coefficient is also reported in the paper.