Wind load calculation

ASCE 7-05 & 02 Wind load calculation:

Basics in ASCE 7-05 & 02
Basic wind speed:

Basic wind speed in U.S. is shown in Figure 6.1. The basic wind speed is basic on statistical data
collected from airport across U.S. The wind speeds correspond to 3-second gust speeds at 33 ft above
ground for exposure C category. The wind speeds represent 50-year return period.

Exposure to wind:

Change from ASCE 7-98 to 02 & 05. Exposure A is deleted. A distinction was made surface roughness
categories and exposure categories. Interpolation between exposure categories is permitted by rational
analysis. Wind is to be evaluated in the worst case of the two 45-degree sectors either side of the wind
direction.

Surface roughness categories:

 Surface roughness B: Urban and suburban areas, wooded areas or other terrain with numerous
closely spaced obstructions having the size of single-family dwellings or larger.

 Surface roughness C: Open terrain with scattered obstructions having heights generally less than
30 ft. including flat open country, grasslands, and all water surfaces in hurricane-prone regions.

 Surface roughness D: Flat, unobstructed areas and water surfaces outside hurricane-prone
regions including smooth mud flats, salt flats, and unbroken ice.

Exposure categories:

 Exposure B: Surface roughness B in upwind direction for 2630 ft or 10 times the height of the
buildings. For buildings with mean roof height 30 ft or less, the upwind distance is reduced to
1500 ft.

 Exposure C: apply to all cases not in B or D.

 Exposure D: Surface roughness D in upwind direction for 500 ft or 10 times the height of the
buildings. Expose D shall extend inland from the shoreline for a distance of 600 ft or 10 times the
height of the building.

Note: This also allow the building to be designed in different exposure in different direction. A building
located at edge of city or sea shore may be designed for exposure category in one direction and other
exposure in other direction.
 Important factor, I for wind load

Building category Non-Hurricane prone regions and Hurricane prone regions with
Hurricane prone regions with V =
80-100 mph and Alaska V > 100 mph

I (Low hazard) 0.87 0.77

II (all others) 1 1

III (substantial hazard) 1.15 1.15

IV (essential facility) 1.15 1.15

Building classifications
Building enclosure and openings and protection:

Open building: A building having each wall at least 80% open.

Partially enclosed building: building that meet the following conditions;

1. Ao > 1.10Aoi

2. Ao > 4 ft2 or 0.1 Ag and Aoi/Agi  0.2

Ao = total area of openings in a wall the received positive pressure

Ag = the gross area of wall in the same wall of Ao.
Aoi = the sum of area in the building envelop not including A o.
Agi = the sum of gross area of building envelop not including A g.
Examples of partially enclosed buildings: Airplane hangars. One side of the building has door opening
that larger than other 3 sides.

Enclosed buildings: buildings not qualified for open or partially enclosed.

Wind-Borne Debris:

Buildings in standard, essential and substantial hazard categories located in wind-borne debris regions
shall be protected with impact-resistant covering or glazings (windows) at (1) below 60 ft (2) at 30 ft from
roof with aggregate surface within 1500 ft of the building.

Low-rise building:
Building 60 ft or lower and height does not exceed least horizontal dimension.

Minimum design wind load: 10 lb/ft2 for vertical projection of building or components and cladding.

Method of wind calculation:

ASCE 7-05 provides two methods for wind load calculation: a simplified procedure and an analytical
procedure. The simplified procedure is for building with simple diaphragm, roof slope less than 10 degree,
mean roof height less than 30 ft, regular shape rigid building, no expansion joints, flat terrain and not
subjected to special wind condition. The analytical procedure is for all buildings and non-building
structures. Each procedure has two categories: wind for main wind force-resisting system and wind for
component and claddings.

Method 1: Simplified Procedure

Main wind force-resisting system:

The design wind pressure shall be determined as

Ps =  I Ps30

 = Adjustment factor for building height and exposure from Figure 6.2 of ASCE 7-02.
I = Important factor
Ps30 = simplified design wind pressure for exposure B at h = 30 ft and I = 1 from Figure 6-2.

Notes:

1. Figure 6.2 includes Ps30 for basic wind speed from 85 to 170 mph and roof angle from 0 t 0
45 degree. Examples for basic wind speed of 90 mph from 15 to 45 degree are shown below.

Basic Roof Load Zone

wind angle case
speed
(deg) Horizontal Pressure Vertical Pressure Overhang

A B C D E F G H ECH GCH

15 1 16.1 -5.4 10.7 -3.0 -15.4 -10.1 -10.7 -7.7 -21.6 -16.9

90
mph 20 1 17.8 -4.7 11.9 -2.6 -15.4 -10.7 -10.7 -8.1 -21.6 -16.9

25 1 16.1 2.6 11.7 -2.7 -7.2 -9.8 -5.2 -7.8 -13.3

 - - -2.7 -0.7

2 - - -5.3 -3.4 - -

30-45 1 14.4 9.9 11.5 7.9 1.1 -8.8 0.4 -7.5 -5.1 -5.8

2 14.4 9.9 11.5 7.9 5.6 -4.3 4.8 -3.4 -5.1 -5.8

2. Wind shall be calculated for horizontal pressure for zone A, B, C, D; vertical pressure for zone E,
F, G, H; and overhang pressure, Ech, Gch as follows:

Zone Horizontal pressure Zone Vertical pressure Zone Windward overhang

A End zone of wall. E End zone of windward roof Ech On vertical projection of
end zone overhang

B End zone of roof. F End zone of leeward roof

C Interior zone of wall G Interior zone of windward roof Gch On vertical projection of
interior zone overhang

D Interior zone of roof H Interior zone of leeward roof

3. Pressures shown are net pressure from windward, leeward and interior pressure and shall be
applied to the horizontal and vertical projections of the building.

4. There are two cases shown in Figure 6.2: Case 1: transverse direction, and Case 2: longitudinal
direction. Both cases shall be checked for roof slope, 25 <  45

5. The length of end zone X=2a. The length, a shall be 10% of least dimension or 0.4h, whichever
is smaller, but not less than 8% of least horizontal dimension or 6 ft.

6. For flat roof, the length of E/F and G/H shall be 1/2 length of the building.
Component and cladding:

The design wind pressure shall be determined as

Pnet =  I Pnet30

 = Adjustment factor for building height and exposure from Figure 6.3 of ASCE 7-02.
I = Important factor
Pnet30 = simplified design wind pressure for exposure B at h = 30 ft and I = 1 from Figure 6-3.

In general, wind pressures for components and cladding are higher than those in main wind force
resisting system. Wind pressures show in Figure 6-3 are broken down to effective areas of 10, 50, and
200 square foot to account for localized effect.

Notes:

Figure 6-3 shows Pnet30 for flat roof, hip roof, and gable roof. Wind pressures on roof are divided to
three zones: (1) interior zone, (2) end zone and (3) corner zone. Wind pressures on walls are divided to
two zones: (4) interior zone and (5) end zone. Example of wind zones for gable roof with roof angle from
7 to 45 degree is shown in the figure below. The width of end zone is “a” instead of “2a”. Wind pressures
for wall, roof, and roof overhang are shown in several tables.

Example
Example 1: Wind load on a small office building in suburb using simplified procedure
Design data:
Eve height: 30 ft
Length of building: L = 100 ft
Width of building, B = 50 ft
Roof angle: 20 degree
Location: suburb of Chicago
Topographic feature: flat land
Requirement: Determine wind load for main wind force resisting system
Solution:
1. Determine basic wind speed from Figure 6.1., V = 90 mph
2. Determine Building cateorgy from Table 1.1, and important factor from Table 6.1, I =1
3. Determine Exposure category from Section 6.5.6, Exposure B
4. Determine wind pressure, Ps30 and adjustment coefficient, l from Figure 6-2
Mean roof height: h = 30 ft + (B/2)tan (20 degree) = 39.1 ft
Use 40 ft for adjustment factor
Wind pressure Ps30
Horizontal pressure:
Zone A: Ps30A = 17.8 psf
Zone B: Ps30B = -4.7 psf
Zone C: Ps30C = 11.9 psf
Zone D: Ps30D = -2.6 psf
Vertical pressure:
Zone E: Ps30E = -15.4 psf
Zone F: Ps30F = -10.7 psf
Zone G: Ps30G = -10.7 psf
Zone H: Ps30H = -8.1 psf
Adjustment factor:  = 1.09
Design wind pressure:
Horizontal pressure:
Zone A: PA = Ps30A I = 19.4 psf
Zone B: PB = Ps30B I = -5.1 psf
Zone C: PC = Ps30C I =13 psf
Zone D: PD = Ps30D I = -2.8 psf
Vertical pressure:
Zone E: PE = Ps30E I = -16.8 psf
Zone F: PF = Ps30F I = -11.7 psf
Zone G: PG = Ps30G I = -11.7 psf
Zone H: PH = Ps30H I = -8.8 psf
Length of end zone, X = 2 a
a is smaller of 0.4h = 15.64 ft, 0.1B=5 ft, but not less than 3 ft
X = 10 ft
Method 2: Analytical procedure
Apply to all buildings and other structures.

Velocity pressure:

Velocity pressure is calculated as

qz = 0.00256 Kz Kzt Kd V2 I (lb/ft2)

where V is basic wind speed, I is important factor, K d is wind directionality factor, Kzt is topographic factor,
and Kz is velocity pressure exposure coefficient.

Velocity pressure exposure factors are listed Table 6-3 of ASCE 7-02 or can be calculated as

Kz = 2.01 (z/zg)2/.

z is height above ground, z shall not be less than 15 ft. except that z shall not be less than 30 ft for
exposure B for low rise building and for component and cladding.

 and zg are taken as follows:

Exposure  zg (ft)

B 7.0 1200

C 9.5 900

D 11.5 700

Topographic Factor,

Kzt = (1+K1+K2+K3)2

where K1, K2, K3 are determined from Figure 6-4 of ASCE 7-02 based on hill, ridge or escarpment.

Wind load for main wind force resisting system

Rigid building of all height:

The design wind pressure shall be calculated as

P = q G Cp – qi (GCpi)

Where

q = qz for windward walls evaluated at height z above ground.

q = qh for Leeward walls, side walls, and roof evaluated at mean roof height h above ground.

G = 0.85 is gust response factor or may be calculated by Eq. 6-4.

Cp is external pressure coefficient from Figure 6.6 to 6.8 of ASCE 7-02.

 Figure 6.6 is for gable, hip roof, monoslope roof, and mansard roof
 Figure 6.7 is for dome roof
 Figure 6.8 is for arched roof
GCpi is internal pressure coefficient from Figure 6.5 of ASCE 7-02.

qi is internal pressure evaluated as follows:

 Enclosed building: qi = qh evaluated at mean roof height for windward, leeward, and side walls,
and roof.
 Partial enclosed building: qi = qh for negative internal pressure, qi = qz for positive internal pressure
at height z at the level of highest opening.

Note: The internal pressure shall be applied simultaneously on windward and leeward
walls and both positive and negative pressures need to be considered. Therefore, it
cancels each other for enclosed building except for roof. For partially enclosed
building, internal pressure shall be added to leeward wall at the height of opening.

Wall pressure coefficient Cp for Gable, Hip roof (from figure 6.6 of ASCE 7-02):

Surface L/B Cp Use with

Windward Wall All values 0.8 qz

0-1 -0.5

Leeward Wall 2 -0.3 qh

4 -0.2

Side Wall All values -0.7 qh

Low-rise building.

The design wind pressure shall be calculated as

P = qh[ (GCpf )– qi (GCpi)]

Where

qh is velocity pressure at mean roof height h above ground.

GCpf is external pressure coefficient from Figure 6.10 of ASCE 7-02.

GCpi is internal pressure coefficient from Figure 6.5 of ASCE 7-02.

Note: For wind pressures at edges and corners of walls and roof are higher than interior zone. Wind
pressure at each zone needs to be calculated seperatly.

External pressure coefficient GCpf (from Figure 6-10 of ASCE 7-02)

Roof Building Surface

Angle
1 2 3 4 5 6 1E 2E 3E 4E

0-5 0.4 -0.69 -0.37 -0.29 -0.45 -0.45 0.61 -1.07 -0.53 -0.43

20 0.53 -0.69 -0.48 -0.43 -0.45 -0.45 0.8 -1.07 -0.69 -0.64

30-45 0.56 0.21 -0.43 -0.37 -0.45 -0.45 0.69 0.27 -0.53 -0.48

90 0.56 0.56 -0.37 -0.37 -0.45 -0.45 0.69 0.69 -0.48 -0.48

Parapets
The design wind pressure shall be calculated as

Pp = qp GCpn

Where

qp is velocity pressure at top of parapet.

GCpn is combined net pressure coefficient, +1.8 for windward, -1.1 for leeward.

Design wind load with eccentricities

Wind load design cases:

Case 1: Full wind loads in two perpendicular directions considered separately.

Case 2: 75% wind loads in two perpendicular directions with 15% eccentricity
considered separately.

Case 3: 75% wind loads in two perpendicular directions simultaneously.

Case 4: 56.3% (75%x75%) of wind load in two perpendicular directions with 15%
eccentricity simultaneously.

Wind load for component and cladding.

Building 60 ft or lower
The design wind pressure shall be calculated as

P = qh[ (GCp )– qi (GCpi)]

Where

qh is velocity pressure at mean roof height h above ground.

GCp is external pressure coefficient from Figure 6.11 to 6.16 of ASCE 7-02.

GCpi is internal pressure coefficient from Figure 6.5 of ASCE 7-02.

Building higher than 60 ft

The design wind pressure shall be calculated as

P = q (GCp) – qi (GCpi)

Where

q = qz for windward walls evaluated at height z above ground.

q = qh for Leeward walls, side walls, and roof evaluated at mean roof height h above ground.

qi is internal pressure evaluated as follows:

 Enclosed building: qi = qh evaluated at mean roof height for windward, leeward, and side walls,
and roof.
 Partial enclosed building: qi = qh for negative internal pressure, qi = qz for positive internal pressure
at height z at the level of highest opening.
GCp is external pressure coefficient from Figure 6.11 to 6.17 of ASCE 7-02.

GCpi is internal pressure coefficient from Figure 6.5 of ASCE 7-02.

Note: The internal pressure shall be applied simultaneously on windward and leeward
walls and both positive and negative pressures need to be considered. Therefore, it
cancels each other for enclosed building except for roof. For partially enclosed
building, internal pressure shall be added to leeward wall at the height of opening.

Wind pressure on parapets

The design wind pressure shall be calculated as

P = qp (GCp) – qi (GCpi)

Where

qp = velocity pressure at top of parapets.

GCp is external pressure coefficient from Figure 6.11 to 6.17 of ASCE 7-02.

GCpi is internal pressure coefficient from Figure 6.5 based on porosity of the parapet envelope.

Wind load on open building and other structures

The design wind load shall be calculated as

P = qz G Cf Af

Where

qz = velocity pressure at height z at the centroid of A f.

G is gust effect factor.

Cf is net pressure coefficients from Figure 6-18 to 6-22 of ASCE 7-02.

Af is project area normal to the wind.

Example 3: Wind load on a billboard along highway.

Design Data:

Design code: ACE 7-05

Dimension of sign: 20 ft by 15 ft

Height from ground to center of sign: 60 ft

Basic wind speed: 90 mph

Exposure category: B

Topographic feature: flat land

Requirement: Determine design wind load on billboard to be used with load combination

Solution

1.Determine basic wind speed from Figure 6.1 and directionality factor Kd from Table 6-6, V = 90 mph,
Kd = 0.85
2. Determine Important factor from Table 6-1: I = 1

3. Determine Exposure category from section 6.5.6 and velocity exposure coefficient K z and Kh from Table
6.5.

Exposure B, exposure coefficient,  = 9.5, zg = 900 ft

Height, z = 60 ft, Kz = 2.01*(z/zg)2/= 1.1

4. Determine topographic factor from Figure 6.2, K1 = 0, K2 = 1, K3 = 1

Kzt = (1+K1K2K3) = 1

5. Determine gust effect factor from section 6.5.8, G = 0.85

6. Determine external pressure coefficient Cf from Table 6-11

M = 20 ft, N = 15 ft, M/N = 1.3, Cf = 1.2

7. Determine velocity pressure qz = 0.00256 KzKztKdV2I = 20.03 psf

8. Determine wind pressure: p = qzGCf = 20.43 psf

9. Determine wind load on billboard, F = pMN = 6130 lbs