×
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 s structure at peak of mountain

Wind load on s structure at peak of mountain

Wind load on s structure at peak of mountain

(OP)
I am looking at wind loading on a structure sitting on top of mountain in west region of the US. Elevation difference from top to flat ground surface is about 3500 ft. Looking at topographic factor, calculation in ASCE 7-05 (or 7-10) yields the topographic factor on the order of 2. This seems quite high, but just to get some idea or sense if this is reasonable. I remember seeing someone mapped out an island in Hawaii that has similar magnitude of topographic factor (1.5 to 2). Any opinions are appreciated as I am looking for a sanity check.

RE: Wind load on s structure at peak of mountain

Well, Mt Washington near the east coast gets 200+ mph winds at the peak, and 30-50 in the valley below.

The wind conditions are going to change with the season, with elevation, and with storm conditions (as storms pass by, local winds will vary tremendously from the seasonal average) but they are going to be LOCAL. Get measurements for THAT MOUNTAIN, not a book-value multiplier for generic mountain in a generic state.

RE: Wind load on s structure at peak of mountain

One of the highlights of my hiking/snowshoeing career was being on top of Mt Lady Washington on New Years Day. It was too windy to stand up. It was not a storm. So yes, I would use every bit of wind force that the calculation comes up with.

You may have some reduction due to the thinner air at higher altitude, and I think ASCE 7 allows for that as well.

RE: Wind load on s structure at peak of mountain

(OP)
Thanks for the input. I just wanted to get some physical sense out of this as well as some sanity checks. Again, I have seen wind pressures of 30~60 psf and what I'm getting is on the order of 90-100 psf. Some people are saying this is crazy.

RE: Wind load on s structure at peak of mountain

We had folks want to build houses like that on top of mountains at my previous job, and I always called the local building jurisdiction for help. They usually had great info.

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