Wind pressures on roofs of very low and very large industrial buildings

Abstract This paper deals with the windload on block-type buildings with very low relative heights (i.e. building height related to the building width). Such buildings correspond to most industrial building complexes. It is shown by wind tunnel studies comprising flow visualization on the building surfaces and pressure measurements on the model roof, that there are significant differences between the requirements in the windload codes and the experimental findings. For this type of building the height/width ratio is the most important factor concerning the roof windload. The effect on parts of the building protruding from the main roof surface is demonstrated in case studies. The windload on the surface of the protrusions is strongly influenced by the position of the protrusions with respect to the main building.