×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Wind Load on Fabric Curtain Wall

Wind Load on Fabric Curtain Wall

Wind Load on Fabric Curtain Wall

(OP)
One of our clients has requested a proposal from us to do the engineering to install a fabric curtain wall around an existing industrial steel building that currently has no walls. The facility is a metal recycling operation that recycles automobiles (they are shredded) and other metal debris. The owner wishes to hang old conveyor belts from the perimeter floor steel to act as a noise barrier and to prevent small bits and pieces from flying outside.

We are looking for guidance on calculating the wind load that would be transmitted to the steel frame through these curtains. My first thought is that this would be similiar to wind on a flag, but we can find no literature on wind forces on vertically hung curtains. Can anyone point to a reference for this? Any thoughts on this subject are welcome.

RE: Wind Load on Fabric Curtain Wall

If the fabric is tied top and bottom or left to right - I believe the winds will be pretty much the same as a "real" wall.

If it is allowed to "open" and "close" at will - not sure how to figure that one - but obviously would vary with wind speed.

RE: Wind Load on Fabric Curtain Wall

(OP)
The best approach we have found so far is to consider the curtain rotating in rigid body motion. Then you can equate lateral and vertical moments to calculate displacment which will then provide the axial force in the curtain. We will be very conservative in applying "adjustment" factors to the axial force we arrive at. Also considering a finite element model and a requirement that the curtains be taken down in the advent of forecast winds greater than 30 mph. We have included a provision in our proposal that our methodology be acceptable to the local AHJ prior to release of drawings.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources