Wind on guard rails

[bookowski]

Anyone know where the 6ft referenced below comes from? I’m not questioning the logic but rather is this codified somewhere? I found a 2nd reputable article that states “between 2x to 4x” the railing height as a cutoff.

Thus, for a balcony with a depth of 6 feet or less, the wind load on the railing is similar to the load on the building windward wall (Cp = 0.8, per Figure 27.3-1 in ASCE 7-16). There is no need to consider a simultaneous leeward or suction pressure on a railing of a shallow balcony.

https://www.structuremag.org/?p=17439

 

[WinelandV]

bookowski,

I got some PDH's listening to a presentation that the article author gave. I don't remember exactly what she said in the presentation, but I do have the slides from the presentation. The gist is, looking at how parapet pressures were derived, you need space behind the parapet (or solid balcony guarding) of 2 to 4 times the guarding height (as you mentioned in your post). Accepting that, a 42" tall guard * 2 will give you 84", which is about 6' with a *ahem* pocket FOS.

To the 2nd question (is it codified), well, from that same presentation:

So no, not codified.

Please note that is a "v" (as in Violin) not a "y".