Actions Package – Wind Actions Summary Page 1

Wind Actions
Lecture Summary
Wind actions
• forces caused by pressure of wind passing over and around structures
• dynamic nature of winds causes fluctuations in the pressures
• area averaging and high local peaks in some areas
• can induce dynamic or resonant effects in structures

AS/NZS 1170.2: 2011

• design for ultimate/peak wind events (rare)
• can be used to check serviceability (25 year event)
• applies to buildings with a height < 200m and span < 100m eg apartments, high rise city
buildings, medium sized exhibition buildings
• does not cover off-shore structures, some bridges, lattice towers

Designer aims to determine action effects on all

Cfig,U
structural elements under wind actions. Cfig,D
• Uses at least four wind directions
• Design scenarios with most adverse combinations of Cfig,W
external and internal pressures for each wind
direction Cpi Kc Cfig,L
e.g. Critical design scenario
for roof, leeward wall
Characteristics of wind actions
• distributed
• estimated
• short-term < 3 seconds (peak gust)

Nomenclature

Suction (-ve) on roof

surfaces
 windward wall and leeward wall
wind direction
Pressure (+ve)
 leeward wall on windward
wind direction
wall

 side wall
wind direction

 upwind slope
 downwind slope
wind direction

• Pressure – air flow towards surface; positive values (always perpendicular to surface)
• Suction – air flow away from surface; negative (always perpendicular to surface)

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 Actions Package – Wind Actions Summary Page 2

• Importance level – level assigned to structure determined by the number of people it is

designed to protect, role in post-disaster situations, whether it houses potentially dangerous
activities or materials. Refer excerpt from NCC.
• Annual probability of exceedance – 1/(Recurrence interval). Determined by importance level
Refer excerpt from NCC.
• Openings – any gap that can let air into the building. Includes doors, windows, vents, leakage
• Dominant opening – the surface with a greater area of opening than all of the other surfaces
combined (including permeability).
• Dominant area ratio = (open area on surface with dominant opening)
(area of openings on all other surfaces)
• permeability – small cracks and gaps in the structure’s envelope that allow air through
typically: 0.1% (sealed, air conditioned) – 0.5% (warehouse) of wall area.
• net pressure – external pressure minus internal pressure (kPa) across a surface. Used to
calculate action effects eg. bending moment, tension, compression or shear force on element.

Excerpt from the National Construction Code Part B1 Structural Provisions

Table B1.2a
Importance Levels of Buildings and Structures
Importance
Building Types
Level
1 Buildings or structures presenting a low degree of hazard to life and other property in the
case of failure
2 Buildings or structures not included in Importance Levels 1,3 and 4
3 Buildings or structures that are designed to contain a large number of people
4 Buildings or structures that are essential to post-disaster recovery or associated with
hazardous facilities

Table B1.2b
Design events for safety
Annual Probability of Exceedance
Importance Wind
Snow Earthquake
Level Non-cyclonic Cyclonic
1 1:100 1:200 1:100 1:500
2 1:500 1:500 1:150 1:500
3 1:1000 1:1000 1:200 1:500
4 1:2000 1:2000 1:250 1:800

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Design strategy
W1
Calculate site wind speed Vsit,β
Vsit,β = VR Md M z,cat Ms Mt
<AS/NZS1170.2 Clause 2.2>
Need:
• Location
• Average roof height of
structure h
Consider all wind directions
W2
Determine design wind speed
(Vdes,θ)
<AS/NZS1170.2 Clause 2.3>
Need:
• Orientation of structure
W3
Determine design wind pressure
on surfaces (p)
p = (0.5 ρair) [Vdes,θ]2 Cfig C dyn
<AS/NZS1170.2 Clause 2.4>
Need:
• geometry of building
• design scenarios
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Actions Package – Wind Actions Summary Page 3
Detail Code reference
• VR Regional wind speed
o Importance Level, recurrence intervals NCC Table B1.2a&b
o Wind region AS/NZS1170.2 Figure 3.1
o wind speed varies with location AS/NZS1170.2 Table 3.1
• Md Wind directional multiplier
o Gives wind speeds for different directions at same site AS/NZS1170.2 Clause 3.3,Table 3.2
• M z,cat Terrain and structure height multiplier
o ground roughness given by Terrain Categories 1-4 AS/NZS1170.2 Clause 4.2.1
o can model change in Terrain upwind of site AS/NZS1170.2 Clause 4.2.3
o velocity increases with height above ground AS/NZS1170.2 Table 4.1(A) & (B)
• Ms Shielding multiplier
o protection of design site by close, larger buildings AS/NZS1170.2 Clause 4.3
immediately upwind
• Mt Topographic multiplier
o models acceleration of wind over hills
o slope of top half of hill φ = H/(2Lu) AS/NZS1170.2 Clause 4.4.2
o distance of site from crest x
• Determine Vdes,θ (wind normal to faces of building) from the site
wind speeds for the cardinal directions (Vsit,β)
• dependent on orientation of structure
o if orientation known – interpolate between Vsit,β for each
orthogonal axis
o if orientation unknown – use max. wind directional speed
for all directions
• p is always normal to the surface, units Pa
• +ve pressure towards surface, -ve away from surface (suction)
• ρair is the density of air = 1.2kg/m3
• Vdes,θ design wind velocity, squared as in Bernoulli’s equation
• Cfig aerodynamic shape factor; function of geometry, permeability
(unintended leakiness) and role of surface in overall building. AS/NZS 1170.2
Table 5.1(A) – no dominant opening
Table 5.1(B) – with dominant openings
 Actions Package – Wind Actions Summary Page 4

Design strategy Detail Code reference

W3 (continued) o Internal pressures Cfig,i = Cp,i Kc,i AS/NZS 1170.2
 Cp,i internal pressure coefficient Table 5.1(A) – no dominant opening
Consider different combinations  Kc,i combination factor – where pressures on two Table 5.1(B) – with dominant openings
of openings or more separate surfaces are combined
o External pressures Cfig,e = Cp,e Ka Kc,e K Kp Table 5.2 (A), (B) (C) walls
 Cp,e external pressure coefficient Table 5.3 (A), (B) (C) roofs
Consider all  Ka area reduction factor – (only if A >10m2) Table 5.4
wind directions  Kc,e combination factor – where pressures on two Table 5.5
or more separate surfaces are combined
 K local pressure factor –very small areas only Table 5.6
 Kp permeable cladding factor – eg shadecloth Table 5.8
o Frictional drag Cfig = Cf Kc Clause 5.5
• Cdyn dynamic response factor; normally Cdyn = 1.0 Section 6
o must be calculated for structures < 1Hz eg. wind sensitive
structures – long span bridges, stadiums; cantilever roofs
eg stadiums; lighting towers, open lattice structures
o consider along- wind response, cross-wind response

W4
Calculate wind actions on
elements
<AS/NZS1170.2 Clause 2.5>
Consider
Different combinations of openings
Different wind directions
For at least 4 wind directions, evaluate the pressures and then combine Clause 2.5
them to give the action effect that is appropriate for the design of each
structural element.
(Designer selects combination of openings to give most adverse effect –
includes doors, windows, vents, leakage)

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 Actions Package – Wind Actions Summary Page 5

Worked example
Wind loads on building elements
A church auditorium building is being designed for Waterman in Perth WA. Only the westerly
wind direction will be considered. The building will have one door (900 × 2100 mm) and four
windows (1800 × 1200 mm) on the North and South walls, a stained glass window (2400 × 1200 mm)
in the West wall, and double doors on the East wall (total area 1800 × 2100 mm). The site is at the top
of a beach-side reserve near the Indian Ocean and fronting a road. There are no buildings at all to the
west of the church site. All of the other buildings on the church site are behind the main auditorium
building.
Find: The total ultimate wind pressure on the stained glass window, and the net uplift per metre for
the ultimate wind action on a highly loaded portal (Examine half the rafter spanning 12.6 m on the
rake.) Portal spacing is 3.2 m.
250 m

North
Scattered Mainly flat east of
limestone here for 400 m
outcrops,
grasses,
and saltbush
0.5 m Church
North Auditorium

coastline 2m 10 m 14 m
West Coast Drive
Site plan Waterman Church

23 m

7.8 m

24 m 2.7 m
Solution
W1 Site Wind Speed
The NCC shows that this building has an Importance Level 3, and that for a non-cyclonic wind region,
the annual probability of exceedance is 1:1000. The building is to be built in Perth, WA.
<Figure 3.1> shows that Perth is in Region A, and <Table 3.1> gives VR = 46 m/s for 1:1000 wind in
Region A.

For this problem, only one direction is considered. Region A1 has Md = 1.0 for Westerly winds
<Table 3.2>.
For Westerly winds, the approach to the structure is over
• Open ocean (Terrain category 2 for the ultimate wind event)
• Low scrub, grass and small rocky outcrops (Terrain Category 2)
7.8 + 2.7
Average roof height h = = 5.25 m
2

<Table 4.2(A)> shows that the averaging distance for Terrain Categories for this building is 1000 m.
All terrain within 1000 m to the West of the site is Terrain Category 2. <Table 4.1(A)> is used for
Region A ultimate wind speeds, Mz,cat = 0.91 (for z = 5 m and Terrain Category 2, no interpolation)

There are no upwind buildings for Westerly winds, so Ms = 1.0. <4.3>

The topography corresponds to an escarpment with the building near the crest. Here H = 14 m, and
Lu = distance between the 7 m and 14 m contours. Scaling off the site plan gives Lu ≈ 25/65 x 250m =
100 m.
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 Actions Package – Wind Actions Summary Page 6

H 14
Hence φ = = = 0.07 <4.4.2>
2 Lu 2 × 100
Also L1 = greater of 0.36 × 100 or 0.4 × 14. ie 36 m. As site is at the crest of the escarpment | x | = 0
14
<4.4.2> gives M t = 1 + = 1.10
3.5 (5.25 + 36)
Vsit,west = VR Md (Mz,cat Ms Mt) = 46 × 1.0 × (.91 × 1.0 × 1.10) = 46 m/s <2.2>

W2 Design Wind Speed

The problem only considers the wind blowing normal to the gable i.e. from the West.
Vdes,θ = Vsit,west = 46 m/s <2.3>

W3 Wind pressures on surfaces

p = (0.5 ρair) [Vdes,θ]2 Cfig Cdyn
None of the structural elements will have a natural frequency less than 1.0 Hz, so Cdyn = 1.0
<6.1>

STAINED GLASS WINDOW – on windward wall

Internal Pressures outside inside
Consider design scenario that will maximise inward pressure differential
i.e. use a negative internal pressure – opening on side wall
Assuming building leakage at 0.1% permeability with one door and a window in peak negative
pressure region on side wall are open.

Total building leakage = area of all other surfaces x 0.1%

= [(2 × 12.6 × 24) + (2 × 23 × (2.7 + (7.8 – 2.7)/2)) + (2.7 × 24)] 0.1 / 100 = 0.91 m2
(roof) (end walls) (other side)
(0.90 × 2.1 + 1.8 × 1.2)
and permeability ratio = = 4.45
0.91
<Table 5.1(B)> gives Cp,i = Cp,e on the side wall at the location of the openings
For windward end of side wall, Cp,e = –0.65 <Table 5.2(A)>
i.e. Cp,i = –0.65 (inwards)

External Pressures
External pressure coefficient for windward wall Cp,e = +0.7 <Table 5.2(A)>
The Area Reduction Factor Ka does not apply to the windward wall. However if the area of the
window is small enough, the Local Pressure Factor K may apply. (The window pane is part of the
cladding)
a is the minimum of h, 0.2 d, and 0.2 b giving a = 0.2 b = 4.6 m
The limiting area = 0.25 a2 = 5.29 m2 <Table 5.6>
The area of the stained glass is 2.4 × 1.2 = 2.88 m i.e. the area of the window is less than the limiting
2

area for loca pressures, so the Local Pressure Factor (K) applies with K = 1.25 <Table 5.6>
The stained glass window is not porous, so Kp = 1.0 <5.4.5>
Note that the additional local pressure does not apply to the design of the windward wall as a
whole.
Combined effects
A combination of internal and external pressures can allow the use of the Combination Factor Kc.
However, <Table 5.5> does not include a reduction for positive wall pressures and negative internal
pressures, hence Kc = 1.0.
Cfig (internal) = Cp,i Kc = –0.65 × 1.0 = –0.65 <5.2>
pi = (0.5 ρair) [Vdes,θ]2 Cfig Cdyn <2.4.1>
= 0.5 × 1.2 × 46.02 × (–0.65) × 1.0 = –825Pa (suction acting inwards)

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 Actions Package – Wind Actions Summary Page 7

Cfig (external) = Cp,e Ka Kc K Kp = 0.7 × 1.0 × 1.0 × 1.25 × 1.0 = 0.875 <5.2>
Pe= (0.5 ρair) [Vdes,θ] Cfig Cdyn
2
<2.4.1>
= 0.5 × 1.2 × 46.02 × (0.875) × 1.0 = 1111 Pa (pressure acting inwards)

Net pressure = pe – pi = 1111–(–825) =1936 Pa (inwards) = 1.94 kPa

ROOF UPLIFT
Internal Pressures
Consider design scenario that will maximise outward pressure differential
i.e. use a positive internal pressure (an opening on the windward wall). However, there are no
potential openings on the windward wall, so take the case of a closed building – all walls equally
permeable. <Table 5.1(A)> gives two cases: -0.3 or +0.0. Here +0.0 is the most positive.

External Pressures R
With the wind from the West, the wind is parallel to the R
Ridge and the two roof surfaces are both “R” surfaces.
h 5.25
Here = = 0.219 i.e. < 0.5 wind
d 24
So, along the first 5.25 m of roof, <Table 5.3(A)> gives Cp,e = –0.9 or –0.4.
Use –0.9 as it is most negative and creates the greater resultant pressure when combined with internal
pressure.

End rafter supports a rectangular area of roof going 1.6 m into the building. The next one supports a
tributary area of width 3.2 m going from 1.6 m to 4.8 m from the Western end. The second rafter has
a larger contributory area, and is entirely within the highly loaded region in the Western 5.25 m of the
roof. It will be the critical rafter for wind uplift design and will have Cp,e = –0.9.

The portal rafter supports a large area, but the aerodynamics of the roof has two surfaces – one on
each side of the ridge. The area of each surface carried by the rafter is A = 12.6 × 3.2 = 40.3 m2
The Area Reduction Factor Ka for roofs and side walls can be found by interpolation in <Table 5.4>.
Interpolating between A = 25 m2 and A = 100 m2 gives Ka = 0.88.
The area supported by one rafter is too large to consider a Local Pressure Factor, K =1.0 <5.4.4>
The surface is not porous, so the reduction factor for porous cladding (Kp) does not apply,
Kp = 1.0 <5.4.5>

Combined effects
<Table 5.5> allows a reduction for roof suction and positive internal pressure. However, in this case,
the internal pressure is 0. All of the effect comes from external pressure, so there is not reduction.
Combination Factor Kc = 1.0.
Cfig (internal) = Cp,i Kc = 0.0 × 1.0 = 0.0 <5.2>
pi = (0.5 ρair) [Vdes,θ] Cfig Cdyn
2
<2.4.1>
= 0.0 Pa
Cfig (external) = Cp,e Ka Kc K Kp = -0.9 × 0.88 × 1.0 × 1.0 × 1.0 = -0.792 <5.2>
pe = (0.5 ρair) [Vdes,θ]2 Cfig Cdyn <2.4.1>
= 0.5 × 1.2 × 46.0 × (-0.792) × 1.0 = –1005 Pa (pressure acting outwards)
2

Net pressure = pe – pi = –1005+0 =1005 Pa (outwards or uplift) = 1.0 kPa

Linear upward load on 3.2 m wide area = 1.0 × 3.2 = 3.2 kN/m (uplift)

Edition 1.0 (2002) NTDC / FWPRDC Timber Education Program