Estimation of Wind Loads on the Balcony Glass Handrails of Mid-Rise Buildings

This paper investigates the effect of balconies on wind loads of residential mid-rise buildings and the wind loads on balcony glass handrails. Large-scale experiments were performed in Wall of Wind facility at Florida International University. A 15-story mid-rise building was selected for the experiments. Two sets of experiments were performed by using building models without and with balconies. Wind effects on both continuous and discontinuous balconies were studied. In order to study the scaling effects, in each set of experiments, pressure measurements were performed on three models with scales 1:180, 1:67 and 1:25. The results showed that the balconies can change the flow pattern around the building and consequently the pressure distribution on the walls. The pressure coefficients on the balcony structures provided in this paper provide useful information for more reliable design guidance for balcony glass railings that will improve safety of the residents.