Fluctuating wind loads across gable-end buildings with planar and curved roofs

Wind tunnel model studies were carried out to determine the wind load distribution on tributary areas near the gable-end of large, low-rise buildings with high pitch planar and curved roof shapes. Background pressure fluctuations on each tributary area are described by a series of uncorrelated modes given by the eigenvectors of the force covariance matrix. Analysis of eigenvalues shows that the dominant first mode contributes around 40% to the fluctuating pressures, and the eigenvector mode-shape generally follows the mean pressure distribution. The first mode contributes significantly to the fluctuating load effect, when its influence line is similar to the mode-shape. For such cases, the effective static pressure distribution closely follows the mean pressure distribution on the tributary area, and the quasi-static method would provide a good estimate of peak load effects.