# Experimental Study on the Effect of Wind Speed on Hail Impacts
## 5 Conclusions  
This study, based on a self-developed hail impact simulation platform, conducted hail impact experiments under varying wind speeds in a wind tunnel laboratory. The influence of wind speed, hailstone diameter, and velocity on hail impact characteristics was systematically analyzed, leading to the following key conclusions:  
Wind speed exerts significant effects on hail impact dynamics: Higher wind speeds shorten impact duration, accelerate peak force attainment, and amplify peak force magnitudes, thereby enhancing the destructive potential of wind-driven hailstones. When wind speed and hailstone diameter vary simultaneously, peak impact forces increase with both parameters, though smaller hailstones exhibit reduced sensitivity to wind speed. Similarly, combined increases in wind speed and hail velocity escalate peak forces, necessitating distinct analyses of ice material behavior under impact versus high-velocity scenarios. Notably, under high wind speeds, impact forces surpass those in windless conditions due to the momentum transfer from fragmented hail clusters, which converts additional aerodynamic energy into impact forces. Building on these findings, a predictive model for peak structural loads was developed using the multivariate regression analysis of wind-hail coupled simulation data, offering actionable insights for wind-hail-resistant structural design.  
While this study systematically investigated the influence of wind speed on hail impact dynamics and yielded notable insights into aerodynamic coupling mechanisms, it remained constrained by the authors' methodological expertise and experimental resources, positioning the work as a preliminary exploratory phase within this research domain. Though actual hailstorms are often accompanied by heavy rainfall, the effect of rainfall on the impact behavior of hail was not explored in this study. Subsequent researchers can carry out experiments in this area to conduct a theoretical analysis of the impact of rain on hail and the actual mechanism of action, in order to use the findings to solve the problems of practical engineering.  
Figure 12: Prediction effect of regression equation.  
**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, [PERSON] (Y.D.); methodology, [PERSON] (Y.D.) and [PERSON] (Y.D.); Formal analysis [PERSON] (Y.D.) and H.L.; investigation, Y.L. and H.L.; data curation, [PERSON] (Y.D.); writing--original draft, [PERSON] (Y.D.); writing--review and editing, H.L. and Y.L.; funding acquisition, [PERSON] (Y.D.). All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
**Funding:** This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52178478) and the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2022 JJ30247). Funder: [PERSON].  
**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.  
**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.  
**Data Availability Statement:** The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to reasons related to data ownership.  
**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflicts of interest.