• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.73-84
• /
• 2001

Analysis of pressures measured on the roof of the full-scale Texas Tech building and a 1/50 scale model of a typical house showed that the pressure fluctuations on cladding fastener and cladding-truss connection tributary areas have similar characteristics. The probability density functions of pressure fluctuations on these areas are negatively skewed from Gaussian, with pressure peak factors less than -5.5. The fluctuating pressure energy is mostly contained at full-scale frequencies of up to about 0.6 Hz. Pressure coefficients, $C_p$ and local pressure factors, $K_l$ given in the Australian wind load standard AS1170.2 are generally satisfactory, except for some small cladding fastener tributary areas near the edges.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.495-513
• /
• 2013

Thin, high-strength steel roof cladding is widely used in residential and industrial low-rise buildings and is susceptible to failure during severe wind storms such as cyclones. Current cladding design is heavily reliant on experimental testing for the determination of roof cladding performance. Further study is necessary to evolve current design standards, and numerical modelling of roof cladding can provide an efficient and cost effective means of studying the response of cladding in great detail. This paper details the development of a numerical model that can simulate the static response of corrugated roof cladding. Finite element analysis (FEA) was utilised to determine the response of corrugated cladding subject to a static wind pressure, which included the anisotropic material properties and strain-hardening characteristics of the thin steel roof cladding. The model was then validated by comparing the numerical data with corresponding experimental test results. Based on this comparison, the model was found to successfully predict the fastener reaction, deflection and the characteristics in deformed shape of the cladding. The validated numerical model was then used to predict the response of the cladding subject to a design cyclone pressure trace, excluding fatigue effects, to demonstrate the potential of the model to investigate more complicated loading circumstances.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.383-400
• /
• 2009

Low rise building roofs can be subjected to large fluctuating pressures during a tropical cyclone resulting in fatigue failure of cladding. Following the damage to housing in Tropical Cyclone Tracy in Darwin, Australia, the Darwin Area Building Manual (DABM) cyclic loading test criteria, that loaded the cladding for 10000 cycles oscillating from zero to a permissible stress design pressure, and the Experimental Building Station TR440 test of 10200 load cycles which increased in steps to the permissible stress design pressure, were developed for assessing building elements susceptible to low cycle fatigue failure. Recently the 'Low-High-Low' (L-H-L) cyclic test for metal roofing was introduced into the Building Code of Australia (2007). Following advances in wind tunnel data acquisition and full-scale wind loading simulators, this paper presents a comparison of wind-induced cladding damage, from a "design" cyclone proposed by Jancauskas, et al. (1994), with current test criteria developed by Mahendran (1995). Wind tunnel data were used to generate the external and net pressure time histories on the roof of a low-rise building during the passage of the "design" cyclone. The peak pressures generated at the windward roof corner for a tributary area representative of a cladding fastener are underestimated by the Australian/New Zealand Wind Actions Standard. The "design" cyclone, with increasing and decreasing wind speeds combined with changes in wind direction, generated increasing then decreasing pressures in a manner similar to that specified in the L-H-L test. However, the L-H-L test underestimated the magnitude and number of large load cycles, but overestimated the number of cycles in the mid ranges. Cladding elements subjected to the L-H-L test showed greater fatigue damage than when experiencing a five hour "design" cyclone containing higher peak pressures. It is evident that the increased fatigue damage was due to the L-H-L test having a large number of load cycles cycling from zero load (R=0) in contrast to that produced during the cyclone.