Laboratory Testing of Architectural Exterior Wall Fins

• Main Authors: Zabilansky, Leonard, Burch, William, Hall, Tommie
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER NH
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Safety Engineering; Structural Engineering and Building Technology; *FINS; *LABORATORY TESTS; *ARCHITECTURE; *ICE; *HAZARDS; ACCUMULATION; EXTERNAL; WALLS; PHOTOGRAPHS; DRAINAGE; SAFETY; *IRD(ICE RETENTION DEVICES); STADIUMS; PEDESTRIANS; SHEDDING; CONTINUOUS IRD; DISCRETE IRD; FALLING ICE; ICE CONTROL; ICE RETENTION; STRUCTURES; WUK42889; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA536509; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA536509

Ice and snow accumulation sliding from the exterior wall fins installed on the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey, future home field for the New York Jets and New York Giants football teams, was recognized as a potential hazard to pedestrians. The objective of this test program was first to determine if the hazard existed with the standard fin and secondly to evaluate the performance of four ice retention devices (IRDs). A mock-up was assembled using four fins in a vertical stack with different angles. Four IRDs were tested: three were continuous strips and the fourth was a truncated cone attached to the fin at 12 inches on centers. The IRDs were mounted along the lower edge of the fin. To provide water drainage, all the IRDs were spaced off the fin using 3/16-inch plastic spacers. To assess the effectiveness of the IRDs under similar conditions, IRDs were only installed on the fins on the left side of the mock-up while the right side, or standard fin, was used as a control. Testing confirmed that IRDs are needed to reduce the potential hazard of large sheets of snow and ice sliding off the fin. The continuous barriers are problematic because the drainage paths freeze and water travels to the end of the fin to form large ice columns or because water travels over the top of the barrier to form icicles with limited anchoring. The fourth option, the truncated cone, provides discrete anchoring for the accumulation and allows it to melt in place. The potential for large icicles to form still exists; when they present a hazard to pedestrians they should be physically removed. The original document contains color images.