ASCE 7-10 Wind Load Questions
ASCE 7-10 Wind Load Questions
(OP)
I have a number of questions regarding ASCE 7-10 wind loads.
1.
Say you have a trussed tower and want to use either Fig. 29.5-2 for lattice framework or 29.5-3 for trussed towers. The Cf factors come out to be very different. From studying the figures and footnotes I’m under the impression that the lattice framework wind load gets applied to both faces while the trussed tower wind load gets applied to a single face. I believe the footnotes are trying to explain this, but it’s still not 100.00% clear to me so I’m hoping someone can provide clarification or at least tell me what they’ve seen commonly practiced.
I ran some sample calculations comparing the figures for a square tower. For ‘ratio of solid area to gross area’ of 0.05 to 0.30, the wind pressure for trussed towers comes out roughly 60-90% higher than lattice framework, this difference seems way too high for them to be applied the same way. If you apply lattice framework to both faces and trussed tower to a single face, then the overall wind force from lattice framework comes out to 5-25% larger than the trussed tower, a much more reasonable difference with lattice framework being a little bit more conservative.
To clarify, I’m using a single face for determining the ‘ratio of solid area to gross area’ in each case so the ‘ratio of solid area to gross area’ is the same for both figures. The difference is when the wind load is applied, the lattice framework would be applied to both faces while trussed tower would be applied to a single face.
In accordance with posting policies, I did look up this topic in the forum prior to posting and yes, this topic has been brought up multiple times in the past, but I found that addressing this question is a necessary “pre-requisite” for my following questions to make sense. Generally speaking, these past posts have mostly come to similar conclusions to what I’ve presented, but I’m all ears for fresh perspectives. I’ve included links to some of those previous threads below if interested:
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=257769
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=327871
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=327745
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=335846
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=349391
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=349390
2.
Regarding Fig. 29-5.3 Footnote 4: “when the wind is directed along a tower diagonal” is referring to a wind direction such as a North-East wind on a square plan cross section, right? If so, then how would this diagonal wind force be applied to the tower? Would you apply it to the two most exposed faces? In other words, how would you calculate the value for Af as it’s used in eq. 29.5-1 for calculating F? Also, would the ‘ratio of solid area to gross area’ change? For this figure specifically the full definition is ‘ratio of solid area to gross area of one tower face for the segment under consideration’.
3.
When designing a trussed bridge such as a conveyor or utility bridge (not AASHTO) that has very similar construction to a trussed tower except that it’s horizontal instead of vertical (i.e. 4 wide flange chords, angles for web members, etc.), would you consider calculating wind loads per Fig.29.5-3 an appropriate alternative to calculating wind loads per Fig.29.5-2? Please provide reasoning behind why you think one way or the other.
4.
Does anyone know if there’s a place on ASCE’s website or an ASCE contact that you can submit technical questions to? i.e. AISC offers their “Steel Solutions Center” which lets you submit technical questions and they’re very responsive and helpful, I wish other codes had something like that.
Sorry for such a long post, please feel free to respond to any part of it individually.
1.
Say you have a trussed tower and want to use either Fig. 29.5-2 for lattice framework or 29.5-3 for trussed towers. The Cf factors come out to be very different. From studying the figures and footnotes I’m under the impression that the lattice framework wind load gets applied to both faces while the trussed tower wind load gets applied to a single face. I believe the footnotes are trying to explain this, but it’s still not 100.00% clear to me so I’m hoping someone can provide clarification or at least tell me what they’ve seen commonly practiced.
I ran some sample calculations comparing the figures for a square tower. For ‘ratio of solid area to gross area’ of 0.05 to 0.30, the wind pressure for trussed towers comes out roughly 60-90% higher than lattice framework, this difference seems way too high for them to be applied the same way. If you apply lattice framework to both faces and trussed tower to a single face, then the overall wind force from lattice framework comes out to 5-25% larger than the trussed tower, a much more reasonable difference with lattice framework being a little bit more conservative.
To clarify, I’m using a single face for determining the ‘ratio of solid area to gross area’ in each case so the ‘ratio of solid area to gross area’ is the same for both figures. The difference is when the wind load is applied, the lattice framework would be applied to both faces while trussed tower would be applied to a single face.
In accordance with posting policies, I did look up this topic in the forum prior to posting and yes, this topic has been brought up multiple times in the past, but I found that addressing this question is a necessary “pre-requisite” for my following questions to make sense. Generally speaking, these past posts have mostly come to similar conclusions to what I’ve presented, but I’m all ears for fresh perspectives. I’ve included links to some of those previous threads below if interested:
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=257769
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=327871
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=327745
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=335846
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=349391
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=349390
2.
Regarding Fig. 29-5.3 Footnote 4: “when the wind is directed along a tower diagonal” is referring to a wind direction such as a North-East wind on a square plan cross section, right? If so, then how would this diagonal wind force be applied to the tower? Would you apply it to the two most exposed faces? In other words, how would you calculate the value for Af as it’s used in eq. 29.5-1 for calculating F? Also, would the ‘ratio of solid area to gross area’ change? For this figure specifically the full definition is ‘ratio of solid area to gross area of one tower face for the segment under consideration’.
3.
When designing a trussed bridge such as a conveyor or utility bridge (not AASHTO) that has very similar construction to a trussed tower except that it’s horizontal instead of vertical (i.e. 4 wide flange chords, angles for web members, etc.), would you consider calculating wind loads per Fig.29.5-3 an appropriate alternative to calculating wind loads per Fig.29.5-2? Please provide reasoning behind why you think one way or the other.
4.
Does anyone know if there’s a place on ASCE’s website or an ASCE contact that you can submit technical questions to? i.e. AISC offers their “Steel Solutions Center” which lets you submit technical questions and they’re very responsive and helpful, I wish other codes had something like that.
Sorry for such a long post, please feel free to respond to any part of it individually.






RE: ASCE 7-10 Wind Load Questions
2. Yes, it is referring to wind hitting the corner of the tower. Not sure what you mean by how would you apply that. And yes, the ratio of solid to gross would potentially change for the corner wind force.
3. Yes, I would use Figure 29.5-3. Values are based off of wind tunneling testing and the orientation of truss should not change the force coefficients.
4. Not that I know of. They typically host webinars that address typical questions about the ASCE.
RE: ASCE 7-10 Wind Load Questions
That’s why I think the difference comes down to how these wind pressures are applied. Fig. 29.5-2 applied to two faces vs. Fig. 29.5-3 applied to one comes out much closer to each other, and depending on the specific nuances of the structure either one could control in different cases. That seems to make more logical sense to me. And it seems that most people came to a similar conclusion in those other threads that I linked.
At the end of the day I can’t prove it one way or the other. I think the footnotes are trying to address this but it’s still not 100% clear, which is why I asked the question. I could very well be wrong, so I appreciate the perspective.
Regarding question 2, I understand your confusion on what I’m asking, it only really makes sense under my interpretation of question 1. (That very well could be an argument by itself in favor of your interpretation of question 1.)
RE: ASCE 7-10 Wind Load Questions
In 29.5-2, you apply that to every member. The numbers you come out with for 29.5-3, it's just projected against one face of a tower. (That is facing the wind.)
If I understand you correctly: No. That's kind of a catch-22 with 29.5-3: it is not appropriate if we are talking more than about 2-3 bays behind the windward face. At that point either you can use 29.5-2 (i.e. load each individual member).....or you can use some methods in Chapter 5 of 'Wind Loads For Petrochemical and other Industrial Facilities' (by ASCE).