Wind loads on structures with curved roofs

Abstract

The roofs of low-rise structures are usually flat, pitched / gabled, hipped, or curved. Structures with curved roof are being constructed to achieve large unobstructed spans like entertainment centres, exhibition newlinecentres, sports arenas, airport hangers, etc. which are essential for various newlinefunctional requirements. These structures are generally constructed either at newlineground level or at an elevated level. Wind loads are considered to be one of newlinethe most important load criteria for the structural design of such structures. newlineThe aerodynamic behaviour and wind induced pressures over the curved roofs newlineare being affected by major factors such as inflow characteristics such as newlinemean velocity and turbulence intensity profiles, Reynolds number, surface newlineroughness, angle of wind incidence, neighboring structures, size of tributary newlinearea and geometric proportions such as rise to span ratio, wall height to span newlineratio, length to span ratio and wall height to rise ratio. Based on the wind newlineinduced pressure information, database assisted design and equivalent static newlinewind loading are used to establish wind loading for their structural design. Studies on the characteristics of wind pressure over curved roofs were reported over the last three decades. Based on the earlier studies, the rise to span ratio is observed to be significantly affecting the wind pressure on curved roofs. The side wall height to span ratio and building length to span ratio are the two other geometric proportions, which also influence the wind induced pressure on curved roofs, as reported in the literature. Further, most of the studies reported in the literature were conducted under any one type of flow conditions, viz. uniform flow, open and suburban terrain conditions newline newline