Wind loads on vertical members

[MacGruber22]

Designing support for a sculpture, which consists of a 20-ft tall W12 by something with a few items hanging off of the W-shape. I couldn't find a drag coefficient for an I-section in AASHTO, but based on my fluid flow text, I suspect it would be approximately 2.3 +/-.

Ideas?

 

[bridgebuster]

There's nothing in the AASHTO Luminaire Manual or ASCE-7. However, in the AASHTO Guide Specifications for Bridges Vulnerable to Coastal Storms they recommend 2.5 for calculating horizontal forces on superstructures due to currents. 2.3+/- probably is in the ballpark.

 

[MacGruber22]

Cool. Good to know.

 

[bridgebuster]

I came across this research paper:

http://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/E0/04/56/16/00001/HARPER_Z.pdf

There's a table on page 45, with coefficients,from previous research, based upon width/depth ratios.

 

[MacGruber22]

Great. I'll stick with 2.3 to be conservative.