Analysis Of Wind Loads On Buildings And Signs: A Computer Program Based On Asce 7

Abstract

This paper presents the description of a computer program for the analysis of wind loads on buildings and signs. The material used to develop this program was derived mainly from the American Society of Civil Engineers Standard, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures1 (better known as ASCE 7). The program was developed using an object-oriented programming methodology, Microsoft Visual Basic, and runs on any Microsoft Windows graphical environment platform. The program is intended for educational purposes and it is currently used in a structural analysis course taught at Texas A&M University-Kingsville2. The response from the students after using the program has been very positive and encouraging (this has been expressed in the student rating surveys in the “comments” section). The students primarily complement the program’s interface, which is very user-friendly. Furthermore, the program is very practical and can be used to compute the wind pressures that act on signs and buildings, particularly wind pressures on flat roof buildings and hipped roof buildings. The main objective of the paper is to present the program to other potential users in academia and industry.

In order to design a structure, it is necessary to first specify the most severe loads that will probably act on it. The design loading for most structures is often specified in building codes, such as the Uniform Building Code3. The loading specifications, particularly for wind loads, in these building codes are usually based on Chapter 6 of the American Society of Civil Engineers Standard, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures1 - from hereon referred to as ASCE 7. The computer program described in this paper, which calculates wind loads on buildings and signs, is based on ASCE 7. The analysis presented in ASCE 7 to determine wind loads is complex, involving tedious calculations. Students in Structural Analysis at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) had been required to perform these calculations by hand2 prior to the development of the program presented here. This required the instructor to spend a large portion of the course teaching the

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education