Raised Building with Open Floor - Partially Enclosed?

[azogr]

I have a situation where I am reviewing a small penthouse building which sits about 56' in the air on an open framed steel structure. The walls and roof are paneled and have no openings with the exception of one man door which will be designed for the wind loading. The floor of the building will be an open bar grate floor which of course will allow wind into the building. My initial thought was to treat this as partially enclosed. The code (ASCE 7-10) technically only talks about openings in the walls as contributing the the partially enclosed classification. Am I being too conservative to treat this as partially enclosed? I appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.

 

[thaidavid40]

For what it's worth, your approach seems logical and reasonable to me. Depending on the wind considered, you could reasonably have either a positive or a negative pressure inside the structure, due to the leakiness of the bar grating floor.
Dave

Thaidavid

 

[azogr]

Thanks for the feedback Thaidavid, I appreciate it. I am moving forward with the review and considering the building partially enclosed.