Full-scale measurements of wind pressures on flat roof corners

Abstract

Some recent wind tunnel studies have shown that wind-induced suctions on flat-roof corner points very close to the edges are very high for specific wind directions, particularly in the presence of low parapets. Full-scale measurements have been carried out on a flat-roof experimental building, 3.3 m high, beside the football field at the Loyola Campus of Concordia University to produce comparative data with the wind tunnel test results. The exposure of the building can be classified into two categories (open country and suburban) depending on the wind direction. A roof corner panel with 12 tappings has been constructed as a separate unit and has been attached to the roof. Instrumentation for the measurement of mean pressures only was available. The anemometer has been placed on a tower about 20 m away from the building at a height of 4.7 m from the ground. The reference static pressure is measured at the ground level near the anemometer. The paper presents the experimental station and the instrumentation used for the full-scale measurements and provides details of the data obtained and their comparison with the wind-tunnel results.