Wind load on an object
 

Hi.
As a structural engineer, I am puzzled for days with a wind load on a particular free formed roof of a space frame.
It is interesting that our structural engineering codes (Eucopean Code - EN 1991-1-4) are most applicable to "standard" buildings, primarily rectilinear. Projects that deviate from this (including sports stadiums and footbridges) are more often than not tested in a wind tunnel or with CFD software to accurately predict loading wind loading actions. But there is no sign of that in the codes.

So what I want to know, is how to get that initial value for the wind velocity, which will be used in CFD software to determine the wind load?

Thank you.

soome codes provide it (for example the British Standard ) or you might search for weather data. usually the aviation and navigation agencies of your country should have a big historical databases.

Thank you for the reply Vieri.

I have Eurocode BS-EN1991-1-4 standard in front of me, the newest version from 2005. It is based on British standard. It deals with wind load. But not wind load from CFD. It just explains the way wind load is calculated by hand on rectilinear, simple, non-free formed shapes of roofs and objects.

So what I am looking for is the name of that value, which I will be using in my CFD analysis as the initial wind velocity. Just a name.

Mean hourly wind speed, mean annual wind speed?

Hello, I think you should check your structure for the highest wind velocity encountered on the place you will put your bulding. But, you must play with the probabilities of that, because if there is a single record that speed along many years, there is no high probability of it occcurs again. But it is a simple explanation based on my knowledge, maybe you should read some books that deals with wind loading like "Wind Loading of Structures", by John Holmes, or someone else. Hope, this helps you. Regards.
Gonzalo