Evaluation of wind-induced torsional loads on buildings by North American and European codes and standards

摘要

The common characteristics of wind-induced loads on building envelopes always vary in temporal and spatial dimensions. The variation of local wind pressures on building claddings and the total effective wind forces (base shear/overturning moment) on the main structural building systems have been investigated in the past few decades. However, very limited studies examined wind-induced torsional loads on the main resisting structural systems of buildings. This paper reviews these past studies and proceeds with a comparison of torsion provisions in three national wind loading standards, namely the American Society of Civil Engineers standard (ASCE/SEI 7-10), the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC 2010), and the European code (European 2004). Three low buildings located in an open terrain, in addition to three tall buildings located in suburban terrain were considered for this comparison. The low and tall building dimensions were selected to cover three different aspect ratios (length/width) varying from 1 to 3. The results demonstrated significant discrepancies among the provisions of these wind standards in evaluating torsional wind loads on buildings.