Wind load on canopies attached to buildings of different heights

Residential and industrial buildings commonly have various types of overhangs attached to their walls for the conveniences of their users. These overhangs have different names like canopy, patio cover, porch etc. Depending on their locations, canopies are very prone to wind due to the suction developing on their upper surface along with the pressure occurring on their lower surface (for most wind directions), which together may generate critical uplift forces causing lots of damage on these non-structural elements. Very limited studies have been carried out on wind loading on attached canopies. Current ASCE 7-16 provides a procedure for calculation of wind loading on attached canopies. These provisions include a chart to find out both upward and downward wind pressures on the attached canopy. It should be noted that ASCE provisions have limitations and are only applicable for buildings up to 60 ft high. Past and recent studies on this topic have also been limited to low-rise buildings only. Thus, structural engineers have long been asking for guidance for estimation of wind loads that may act on canopies in tall buildings. In addition, the effect of canopy width has not been investigated thoroughly. This thesis presents a study on the effect of wind loading on attached canopies in tall buildings. In this study, high-rise (37 meters) buildings were tested with canopy attached to the wall at different heights. Canopy with different widths were also tested. In addition to the high-rise building (37 m), canopies attached to two other building heights (18.5 m and 7 m) were considered. The test program, which was carried out in the Wind Tunnel Laboratory of Concordia University, Montreal, shows that canopy attached at the top of a tall building may experience 70% more suction than that of a low-rise building. In addition, this thesis also presents the effect of building height, canopy height, wind angle of attack and effect of considered area on wind loading on canopy, which will help structural engineers better understand the behavior of canopies under wind loads both in low-rise and taller buildings. Design provisions for appropriate wind forces for canopies in taller buildings are also provided at the end of this thesis to help the structural engineers