Professional Documents
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Dead loads
Imposed loads
floor
roof
Determining load per m and m2
Wind
Structures transmit loads from one place to another
Structure itself
Plant and equipment
Some rough figures (note that values are subject to variation depending on specifc material type)
Also note values are forces per unit volume not mass per unit volume.
Again when using these type of charts some care is needed to ensure you have the correct figure, or
that it corresponds with your design.
People, furniture, cars, computers and machinery are all imposed loads.
equivalently if your house is designed with 1.5 kN/m2 and the total area was 22m2 how many people could
you invite to a party?
certain types of dancing can cause dynamic effects that increase the effect of load.
Calculating imposed roof loads.
S = Ss (Cb x Cw x Cs x Ca) + Sr
slope factor
accumulation factor
is 1.0 but can be reduced to 0.75 or in exposed areas north of treeline to 0.5
if
building is an exposed location and exposed on all sides
no obstructions around building
no obstructions on roof such as parapet
snow cannot drift onto roof from adjacent surfaces
is 1.0
except when
for large flat roofs when
1.2 x [1-(30/l)2] but not less than 1.0 for roofs with wind factor = 1.0
1.6 x [1-(120/l)2] but not less than 1.0 for roofs with wind factor = 0.75 or 0.5
In addition to the load calculation above roofs of slope less than 15⁰ and arched or curved roofsmust be
designed with accumulation factor 1.0 on one portion while half that load is applied to the remainder .
Calculate snow load on this roof
structure
slope factor
slope factor = (70 - 40) / 40 = 0.75
accumulation factor
accumulation factor = 1.0 associated rain load
S = 1.52kN/m2
Trusses are at 0.6m centres
7 x 0.9 = 6.4 kN
Load per m on wall = 1.52 x 3.5 = 5.32 kN/m
Wind loads act normal (or perpendicular) to building surfaces
For this reason building structures must resist horizontal forces as well as vertical forces.
In addition some light weight structures can be subject to uplift forces from the wind so need to be ad-
equately held down.
geographic location
degree of exposure
building height and size
building shape
wind direction in relations to structure
positive or negative pressures in the building
Faster moving air creates lower pressure (bernoulli effect) as in plane wings.
Look at:
Designing a building in Halifax calculating wind loads. National Building Code of Canada Part 4 4.1.8.
p = q x Ce x Cg x Cp
exposure factor
p = q x Ce x Cg x Cp
exposure factor
so 1 in 10 is used for cladding and stuctural design for vibration and deflection
exposure factor
1.0 or 2.0 for internal pressures to be found somewhere in the 500 pages of appendix A!!
we’ll use 1.0 for now.
external pressure p = q x Ce x Cg x Cp
external pressure p = q x Ce x Cg x Cp
when checking ultimate strength characteristic loads are increased by multiplying by a safety factor.
or
A B
Point load (kN)
Example
Supports perimeter wall and a point load from the reaction of B2.