Interference Effect on Wind Loads on Gable Roof Building

Wind loads and its effects on the roof and walls constitute an important part in building design. This paper discusses the wind tunnel study on wind loads on gable roof building with interference of boundary wall. The pattern of wind load distribution on a test building at gable roof building has been studied in a wind tunnel on a 1: 25 geometrical scale model in the presence of a boundary wall and reported in this paper. The size of building model is based on commonly available low rise gable roof buildings in India. A building with roof extend overhang has been used and data obtained under a simulated wind condition for open country and suburban terrain in a Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India. The study provides information on pressure variations on overhang, roof and wall surface of gable roof building due to interference effect of a boundary wall. It has been observed that pressure values reduce significantly due to presence of boundary wall. In general, it has been found that with an increase in the distance between the building and the boundary walls, maximum interference effect occurs on overhang, roof and wall surface of building at different distances of boundary wall and then the effect tapers off. Further possible issues have also been discussed for the interference effect on wind loads on gable roof building.