Wind and Rain Testing
Severe wind and rain conditions can be encountered anywhere in the world, often with little notice. Excessive wind can interfere with communications equipment, lead to premature wear and corrosion, and limit radar effectiveness. Properly testing your product or system components against wind and rain is necessary both for regulatory compliance and overall quality control.
At NTS, we have a long history of providing wind testing for civilian and military devices. We can design a testing program that lets you anticipate the effects of severe rain and winds, allowing you to make the necessary engineering changes to develop a better product overall.
Wind Testing at NTS
Wind-driven rain testing assesses the effects of falling rainwater on various types of devices and enclosures. The wind and rain testing we perform here at NTS studies, among other factors, the effect of rain and subsequent moisture penetration on water resistant enclosures, water removal systems (drainage), radio communications, optical properties, radar effectiveness, weight increases and impeded functionality of mechanical devices, thermal exchange and propellant burn rates.
To simulate even the most severe wet weather conditions, NTS employs several types of wind propelled rain generators, the most powerful being a tandem fan fixture pushing rain at up to 90 mph. The same test equipment enables large coverage areas at lower speeds, easily covering a 15ft x 8ft (4.5m x 2.5m) area with 40 mph (64 kph) spray. NTS can throttle down the rain spray to any required velocity and volume you may require. Test items are either tested at their functional temperature or can be heated up to 50°F (10°C) higher than the water spray to further induce leakage.
Industry Applications
- Defense: MIL-STD 810 Method 506.4 sets out clear guidelines for wind and rain resistance. Aside from simply meeting your regulatory compliance requirements, proper testing is essential to ensuring you are delivering a product that will be reliable in all weather conditions.
- Aviation: Guidelines for water resistance in civilian aircraft are set out in RTCA DO-160 Section 10.0. The importance of proper rain and wind testing for commercial planes is obvious — when an aircraft is required to fly in almost any condition, it must be able to do so safely and effectively.
- Telecom: The devices that run our information infrastructure need to be able to stand up to the strongest environmental conditions, with heavy winds and rain being the most common of them.
Ultimately any system component, device or product that’s exposed to the elements needs to be properly tested for wind and water resistance. NTS can design a custom training program that takes all environmental factors into account and delivers useable findings that can help you further refine your products.
NTS maintains one of the largest nationwide networks of wind testing labs. We have the capabilities to precisely calibrate our tests to replicate diverse environmental conditions and identify with precision how these stresses affect your product.
Please contact us today to learn more about wind and rain testing services at NTS.