SCIENCE-1

Effect of geometry on wind pressures on low-rise hip roof buildings.

BY---PROF. SHAKEEL AHMAD..
The buildings are constructed in different types of terrain and topography with various plan forms. Wind loads generally govern the lateral strength of a building in areas of severe wind such as coastal regions, open terrain and hill slopes. The study of wind effects on a building consists of two parts, namely (i) evaluation of wind loads and (ii) estimation of its effect on the building. Several post disaster investigations on wind-induced damage to building roofs reveal that hip roofs have performed better than the gable roofs during severe cyclones.

The results revealed that the 30 hip roof experiences the highest peak suctions at the corners and the worst peak suctions are much smaller on the hip roofs than on the gable roofs for 15 and 20 roof pitch. Particular attention has been paid to the total number and positions of the taps near the hip ridge, roof ridge and roof edge, from where the air flow may get separated to form a region of high-velocity gradients with high local turbulence and vorticity. Variation of overhangs The variations of worst Cpmin; Cpmean; and Cprms (all azimuths) for 301 roof pitch with variation of overhang ratios (0.170.38) are similar over the hip roof surface . The maximum peak pressures among these overhangs have been found to occur at the edge corner for the overhang ratio of 0.26. The heavily loaded regions are the corners, along the hip ridge near the corners and the junction of the hip ridge with the roof ridge. Variation of aspect ratios The worst pressure coefficients Cpmin; Cpmean and Cprms (all azimuths) follow a similar trend due to variation of the aspect ratios 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6. As the aspect ratio increases, the worst pressure coefficients Cpmin and Cprms are found to increase but Cpmean is decreasing in magnitude. The worst loaded regions are the edge corners and the hip ridge near the corner. The critical wind direction is 120o for all the three hip roofs. Associating this critical wind direction with the leading edge of the hip roofs, one can conclude that the separation bubbles downwind of leading edges cause largest peak suctions.

Interference effects on wind loads on low-rise hip roof buildings

BY----Shakeel Ahmad & Krishen Kumar