Wind load calculation on walls
Calculation of Wind Loads on external walls
In this article we are going to calculate the wind load on vertical elements like
walls and facades according to EN 1991-1-4:2005. We like to explain it with an
example. This time we will calculate the wind forces on facade elements for a
precast concrete office building. The following picture shows only the structural
elements.
The calculation of the wind load is split up in multiple articles due to the fact that the
wind load depends on much more parameters that need to be derived than for example
the snow load.
This article is based on the peak velocity pressure which we calculated in a previous
article. In order to calculate the wind load or wind pressure on external surfaces we are
going to do the following steps:
a) Calculate the wind velocity pressure qp
b) Define the outer geometry of the building
c) Calculate the width of the Wind areas
d) Find the external pressure coefficients
e) Calculate the wind pressures/loads
Define geometry and parameters from wind velocity pressure
This is a quick summary of the values we calculated to get the wind velocity pressure.
Wind pressure on surfaces
In general distinguishes Eurocode between wind pressure on external and internal
surfaces. This article is focusing on the wind pressure on external surfaces.
Wind pressure on external surfaces we
The formula to calculate the wind pressure on external surfaces is
we=qp∗cpewe=qp∗cpe
Where
qp is the peak velocity pressure and cpe is the external pressure coefficient. The
coefficient cpe has 2 different values depending on the wind loaded area. There is a
value for a surface area of 1 m2 and 10 m2. These to values can also be written as
cpe.1 for the external pressure coefficient for an area of 1 m2 and cpe.10 for the
external pressure coefficient for an area of 10 m2
You are now probably wondering: "When do we ever design a load bearing
element where only 1 m2 is loaded?" Well you are right, that is almost never the
case for beams and slabs. But for smaller elements like cladding elements of the
facade or fixings, cpe.1 comes into play (EN 1991-1-4 7.2.1 Note 1).
So as a short summary:
cpe.10 is usually used for the overall load bearing structure
cpe.1 is used for small elements within elements, such as cladding
Enough explanation let's have a look at the values of the coefficients. EN 1991-1-4
Table 7.1 gives recommendations for cpe.10 and cpe.1. This means that you have to
double check with your National annex because those values might be defined
differently there.
Table 7.1 gives values for 5 different areas A, B, C, D and E of our building. Those
areas depend on where the wind comes from and can be seen in EN 1991-1-4 Table
7.1. For our office building we can define the areas as
Wind from Front
From those dimensions we can define e which determines the width of Areas A and B
according to EN 1991-1-4 Figure 7.5
e=min(b,2h)
e=min(49.75m,2∗17.1m=34.4m)=34.4m
For the case of e>de>d which is true for us the width of Area A is defined as
e/5=6.9m
We did not include the walls on the roof top in the following picture due to better
visualization. We also need to take them into account.
You might be asking why the Areas are not applied to the bottom walls. Those are
basement walls and surrounded by soil. Therefore wind is not reaching them.
Okay, now let's go back to the formula for the wind pressure for external surfaces and
derive the values. The peak velocity pressure was calculated in the last article as
qp=0.746kNm2qp=0.746kNm2
The external pressure coefficients for rectangular buildings can be taken from EN 1991-
1-4:2005 Table 7.1. For a height to width ratio h/d = 17.1m/20.2m = 0.85 which is < 1
and > 0.25 we get the following coefficients.
When you calculate the wind loads the first time ever it might be very confusing in which
direction you have to apply the loads. So let's apply the wind loads (for 10 m2m2) on
our building.
To better understand it we take a look at a 3D picture.
Area loads | 3D
Now we also have to do the same for the case that wind comes from the side.
Wind from Side
In the scenario that wind comes from the side we have to define the Area widths again.
We have to redefine the geometry parameters.
For a height to width ratio h/d = 17.1m/49.75m = 0.34 which is < 1 and > 0.25 we get
the following coefficients we get the same coefficients for A, B, D and E as for Wind
from Front but additionally we get now a value for C (EN 1991-1-4:2005 Table 7.1).
How to calculate the wind load of a pitched roof ([Link])