Increased Snow Loads and Wind Actions on Existing Buildings: Reliability of the Norwegian Building Stock1
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 11
Abstract
Results from an investigation of snow loads and wind actions on 20 existing buildings in Norway are presented. The objective has been to investigate to what extent existing buildings meet current regulatory requirements relating to safety against collapse owing to snow loads or wind actions. Eighteen buildings have a utilization ratio of more than 1.0 under current regulations. The new design rules have led to most of the buildings investigated having reduced safety against collapse owing to snow loads and greater safety against collapse owing to wind actions than the regulations now demand. The investigation indicates too low reliability for a considerable number of buildings according to current building regulations when evaluating the possible consequences of the conclusions in a national perspective. Scenarios for future climate change indicate both increased winter precipitation and increased temperatures, and thus changing the snow loads on roofs. Wind scenarios for the decades to come indicate an increase in frequencies of strong winds in areas also exposed today. Thus, the future reliability of the buildings in these areas could decrease.
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Acknowledgments
This paper has been written within the ongoing SINTEF Research and Development Programme “Climate 2000—Building Constructions in a More Severe Climate” (2000–2006), strategic institute project “Impact of Climate Change on the Built Environment” (Lisø et al. 2005). The writers gratefully acknowledge all construction industry partners and the Research Council of Norway. Special thanks are extended to Professor Jan Vincent Thue, Professor Karl Vincent Høiseth, and Professor Tore Kvande for comments on the text.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 11 • November 2006
Pages: 1813 - 1820
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 2, 2005
Accepted: Jan 12, 2006
Published online: Nov 1, 2006
Published in print: Nov 2006
Notes
Preliminary results presented at the Fifth International Conference on Snow Engineering, July 2004, Davos, Switzerland.
Note. Associate Editor: Shahram Sarkani
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