Analysis Of Wind Loads On Buildings And Signs: A Computer Program Based On Asce 7

This paper presents the description of a computer program for the analysis of wind loads on buildings and signs. The material used to develop this program was derived mainly from the American Society of Civil Engineers Standard, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures 1 (better known as ASCE 7). The program was developed using an object-oriented programming methodology, Microsoft Visual Basic, and runs on any Microsoft Windows graphical environment platform. The program is intended for educational purposes and it is currently used in a structural analysis course taught at Texas A&M University-Kingsville 2 . The response from the students after using the program has been very positive and encouraging (this has been expressed in the student rating surveys in the “comments” section). The students primarily complement the program’s interface, which is very user-friendly. Furthermore, the program is very practical and can be used to compute the wind pressures that act on signs and buildings, particularly wind pressures on flat roof buildings and hipped roof buildings. The main objective of the paper is to present the program to other potential users in academia and industry.