Wind-Induced Internal Pressures in Houses
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 7
Abstract
The effects of ten different opening configurations on the internal pressures in a typical two-story North American house were examined using volume-scaled, wind tunnel experiments. The configurations examined include the effects of (1) dominant opening locations and sizes; (2) wall leakage; (3) compartmentalization of the attic space from the living space; and (4) roof and soffit vents. Helmholtz resonance was observed to significantly amplify the internal pressures for open area ratios greater than 3% and full-scale volumes of approximately . The ASCE 7-05 was found to significantly underestimate the peak internal pressure coefficients for all configurations with dominant openings, regardless of whether there was significant Helmholtz resonance or not. Peak external roof pressures were observed to be highly correlated in time with the internal pressures. It is shown that sealing the attic space from the main (living) space of the house has a significant benefit in not allowing the internal pressure to act on the underside of roof sheathing. However, for just 0.4% open area between the two spaces, peak pressures of 80% of the peak in the living space are transmitted into the attic.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully acknowledge the support provided for this work by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, through the CRD program. The first writer also gratefully acknowledges the support provided by the Canada Research Chairs Program.
References
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE). (2001). 2001 ASHRAE handbook: Fundamentals, SI edition, Atlanta, 26.1–26.32.
ASCE. (2006). “Minimum design loads for buildings and other structures.” ASCE 7-05, Reston, Va.
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). (2003). www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/burema/gesein/abhose/ (May 20, 2003 ).
Davenport, A. G., and Surry, D. (1984). “The estimation of internal pressures due to wind with application to cladding pressures and infiltration.” Proc., Wind Pressure Workshop, Brussels, Belgium.
Farquhar, S., Kopp, G. A., and Surry, D. (2005). “Wind tunnel and uniform pressure tests of a standing seam metal roof model.” J. Struct. Eng., 131(4), 650–659.
Ho, T. C. E., Surry, D., Morrish, D., and Kopp, G. A. (2005). “The UWO contribution to the NIST aerodynamic database for wind loads on low buildings. 1: Archiving format and basic aerodynamic data.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 93(1), 1–30.
Holmes, J. D. (1979). “Mean and fluctuating internal pressure induced by wind.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Wind Engineering, Fort Collins, Colo., 435–450.
Holmes, J. D. (2001). Wind loading of structures, Spon Press, New York.
Inculet, D. R. (1990). “Pressure-equalization of rain screen cladding.” MESc thesis, Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Ont., Canada.
Kopp, G. A., Bartlett, F. M., Galsworthy, J., Henderson, D., Hong, H. P., Inculet, D. R., Savory, E., St. Pierre, L. M., and Surry, D. (2006). “The ‘three little pigs’ full-scale testing facility.” Proc., 1st Spec. Conf. on Disaster Mitigation, CSCE, Calgary, Canada, DM-026-1–8.
Kopp, G. A., Surry, D., and Mans, C. (2005). “Wind effects of parapets on low buildings. 1: Basic aerodynamics and local loads.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 93(11), 817–841.
Lieblein, J. (1974). “Efficient methods of extreme value methodology.” National Bureau of Standards Rep. No. NBSIR 74-602, Washington, D.C.
Liu, H., and Saathoff, P. J. (1982). “Internal pressure and building safety.” J. Struct. Div., 108(10), 2223–2234.
Oh, J. H., Kopp, G. A., and Inculet, D. R. (2007). “The UWO contribution to the NIST aerodynamic database for wind loads on low buildings. 3: Internal pressures.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 95(8), 755–779.
Saathoff, P. J., and Liu, H. (1983). “Internal pressure of multi-room buildings.” J. Eng. Mech., 109(3), 908–919.
Sharma, R. N. (2003). “Internal pressure dynamics with Internal Partitioning.” Proc., 11th Int. Conf. Wind Engineering, Lubbock, Tex., 705–712.
Sharma, R. N., and Richards, P. J. (1997a). “Computational modeling of the transient response of building internal pressure to a sudden opening.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 72(1), 149–161.
Sharma, R. N., and Richards, P. J. (1997b). “The effect of roof flexibility on internal pressure fluctuations.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 72(1), 175–186.
Sharma, R. N., and Richards, P. J. (2003). “The influence of Helmholtz resonance on internal pressures in a low-rise building.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 91(6), 807–828.
Stathopoulos, T., Surry, D., and Davenport, A. G. (1979). “Internal pressure characteristics of low-rise buildings due to wind action.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Wind Engineering, Fort Collins, Colo., 451–463.
St. Pierre, L. M., Kopp, G. A., Surry, D., and Ho, T. C. E. (2005). “The UWO contribution to the NIST aerodynamic database for wind loads on low buildings. 2: Comparison of data with wind load provisions.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 93(1), 31–59.
Vickery, B. J. (1986). “Gust factors for internal pressures in low-rise buildings.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 23(1), 259–271.
Vickery, B. J. (1994). “Internal pressures and interactions with the building envelope.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 53(1), 125–144.
Vickery, B. J., and Bloxham, C. (1992). “Internal pressure dynamics with a dominant opening.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 41(1), 193–204.
Vickery, B. J., and Georgiou, P. N. (1991). “A simplified approach to the determination of the influence of internal pressures on the dynamics of large span roofs.” J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., 38(2), 307–369.
Womble, J. A., Yeatts, B. B., Cermak, J. E., and Mehta, K. C. (1995). “Internal wind pressures in a full and small-scale building.” Proc., 9th Int. Conf. on Wind Engineering, 1079–1090.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 29, 2007
Accepted: Dec 27, 2007
Published online: Jul 1, 2008
Published in print: Jul 2008
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Kurtis R. Gurley
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.