Lecture 9

National Building Code of Canada,

NBCC
Jin Wang, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 Davenport Wind Loading Chain

Professor Davenport's approach to wind loading was to

combine its key components in a chain of thought,
analogous to a physical chain, whose strength is
determined by its weakest link. In recognition of this
and his many other achievements, the International
Association of Wind Engineering has officially named
his approach to wind loading as the “Alan G. Davenport
Wind Loading Chain”.
 NBCC 2020
 The specified wind loads for a building and its components shall be
determined using the Static, Dynamic or Wind Tunnel Procedure
 For the design of buildings that are not dynamically sensitive, one of the
following procedures shall be used to determine the specified wind
loads:
a) the Static Procedure
b) the Dynamic Procedure
c) the Wind Tunnel Procedure

 For the design of buildings that are dynamically sensitive, one of the
following procedures shall be used to determine the specified wind
loads:
a) the Dynamic Procedure
b) the Wind Tunnel Procedure
 NBCC 2020
 For the design of buildings that may be subject to wake buffeting or
channeling effects from nearby buildings, or that are very dynamically
sensitive, the Wind Tunnel Procedure shall be used to determine the
specified wind loads.
 For the design of cladding and secondary structural members, one of the
following procedures shall be used to determine the specified wind
loads:
a) the Static Procedure
b) the Wind Tunnel Procedure
 NBCC 2020
 Classification of Buildings
A building shall be classified as dynamically sensitive if
a) its lowest natural frequency is less than 1 Hz and greater than 0.25 Hz
b) its height is greater than 60m, or
c) its height is greater than 4 times its minimum effective width, where
the effective width, w, of a building shall be taken as

where the summations are over the height of the building or a given wind
direction, is the height above grade to level , and is the width normal to
the wind direction at height , the minimum effective width is the lowest
value of the effective width considering all wind directions.
 NBCC 2020
 Classification of Buildings
A building shall be classified as very dynamically sensitive if
a) its lowest natural frequency is less than or equal to 0.25 Hz, or
b) it contains a human occupancy, and its height is more than 6 times its
minimum effective width

where the summations are over the height of the building or a given wind
direction, is the height above grade to level , and is the width normal to
the wind direction at height , the minimum effective width is the lowest
value of the effective width considering all wind directions.
 Static Procedure (NBCC)
 The specified external pressure or suction due to wind on part or all of a
surface of a building shall be calculated as follows:
𝒑=𝒒 𝑲 𝒅 𝑮𝑪𝒑
Chapter 27 in ASCE 7
where
= specified external pressure acting statically and in a direction normal to
the surface, considered positive when the pressure acts towards the surface
and negative when it acts away from the surface,
= importance factor for wind load
= reference velocity pressure
= exposure factor
= topographic factor
= gust effect factor
= external pressure coefficient
 Reference pressure

• The reference wind velocity pressure, q, can be calculated using (NBCC 2020,
Appendix C):

where is an average air density for the windy months of the year, and taken as
1.2929kg/m3 and V is the reference wind speed in meters per second.

• The reference wind speed is 50 year return period wind speed for strength limit
state design of tall buildings.

• The design wind speed has 0.02 probability of exceedance

• In EBCS 1995 this reference wind speed is defined as 10 minutes averaged

basic wind speed (Vbo )
 Exposure factor, Ce

• The exposure factor, Ce, shall be based on the reference height, h,

determined in accordance with Reference height in Sentence (6), for the
surface or part of the surface under consideration and shall be
a) but not less than 0.9 for open terrain, where open terrain is level terrain
with only scattered buildings, trees or other obstructions, open water or
shorelines thereof,
b) but not less than 0.7 for rough terrain, where rough terrain is suburban,
urban or wooded terrain extending upwind from the building
uninterrupted for at least 1 km or 20 times the height of the building,
whichever is greater, or
c) an intermediate value between the two exposures defined in Clauses
(a)and (b) in cases where the site is less than 1 km or 20 times the
height of the building from a change in terrain conditions, whichever is
greater, provided an appropriate interpolation method is used (see Note
A-4.1.7.3(5)(C))
Reference height, h
Exposure factor (Ce)
Topographic Factor (Ct)
Gust effect factor, Cg

For low-rise buildings

External Pressure Coefficients for Low Buildings
External Pressure Coefficients
for Low Buildings
External Pressure Coefficients for Low Buildings
External Pressure Coefficients for Low Buildings
External Pressure Coefficients for Low Buildings
 Dynamic Procedure
 Exposure factor 𝑝= 𝐼 𝑤 𝑞 𝑪 𝒆 𝐶 𝑡 𝐶 𝑔 𝐶 𝑝
 Dynamic Procedure
 Exposure factor

rough
open
Pressure coefficients

H = building height
D = plan dimension in the
along wind direction
Gust effect factors
• Equivalent peak static pressures on the building surface were estimated by multiplying
the mean velocity pressure by external gust factor, Cg . This factor accounts
Gusts of the approaching wind: fluctuating wind pressures acting for
short
durations (less than one hour) over all or a part of the building
𝜎
Inertial forces arising from wind induced vibration of the structure
𝐶 𝑔 =1+ 𝑔𝑝
𝜇
Gust effect factors 𝜎
𝐶 𝑔 =1+ 𝑔𝑝
𝜇
Background turbulence factor, B
Peak factor, Size Reduction Factor and Gust Energy Ratio 𝐶 𝑔 =1+ 𝑔𝑝 𝜎
𝜇
Peak factor, Size Reduction Factor and Gust Energy Ratio 𝐶 𝑔 =1+ 𝑔𝑝 𝜎
𝜇
Peak factor, Size Reduction Factor and Gust Energy Ratio 𝐶 𝑔 =1+ 𝑔𝑝 𝜎
𝜇
Design example
Given:
• Height H = 240 m
• Width W (across wind) = 50 m
• Depth D (along wind) = 50 m
• Fundamental frequency n0 = 0.125 Hz (period = 8 s)
• Critical damping ratio β = 0.010
• Average density of the building = 195 kg/m3
• Terrain for site = exposure B
• Reference wind speed at 10 m, open terrain (exposure A) = 26.4 m/s

a) Compute Cg
b) Building accelerations in both across-wind, along-wind directions
• Building frequency nW = nD = 0.125 Hz
• Damping coefficient βW = βD = 0.01
Solution

• For H = 240 m and exposure category B, exposure factor CeH = 2.17

• Calculate σ/μ using the following parameters
K = 0.10 for exposure B
B = 0.50 for W/H = 0.208
s = 0.14 for n0 H/VH = 0.772 and W/H
= 0.208 F = 0.36 for n0/VH = 0.0032

𝜎
𝜇
=
√𝐾
𝐶 𝑒𝐻
𝐵+(𝑠𝐹
𝛽
=0.505)
Background turbulence factor, B
H = 240m for W/H = 0.208
Peak factor, Size Reduction Factor and Gust Energy Ratio
n0 H/VH = 0.772 and W/H = 0.208
Peak factor, Size Reduction Factor and Gust Energy Ratio

F = 0.36 for n0/VH = 0.0032

gp = 3.6
 Static Procedure (NBCC)
 The specified internal pressure due to wind on part or all of a surface of
a building shall be calculated as follows:
𝒑=𝒒 𝒊 𝑲 𝒅 (𝑮𝑪𝒑𝒊)
Chapter 27 in ASCE 7
where
= specified external pressure acting statically and in a direction normal to
the surface, considered positive when the pressure acts towards the surface
and negative when it acts away from the surface,
= importance factor for wind load
= reference velocity pressure
= exposure factor for internal pressures
= topographic factor
= internal gust effect factor
= internal pressure coefficient
Components and Cladding
Low-rise building
High-rise building
Wind Tunnel
Codes/Standards do
not cover
Complex
Geometry

26
Codes/Standards do
not cover
Complex
Surroundings

27