Wind Pressure Coefficients on Greenhouse Structures

Commercial production greenhouses are widely used to produce plants and crops. From the structural engineering viewpoint, among the loads that act on greenhouses, wind and snow loads are the major ones. This paper focuses on the former, particularly on wind pressure coefficients. Design and construction of greenhouses should consider wind loads in order to ensure seamless operation, overall stability, durability, and safety, even though human occupancy is limited. Classification and design of greenhouses is typically based on European standards, which cover a variety of geometries and conditions. Some recent research studies suggest, however, that greenhouse design standards should be revised to ensure structural safety of greenhouses subject to strong wind loads. Triggered by this recent outcomes, this paper reviews existing literature on the topic: (a) briefly presenting the state of the art methods for determining wind pressures on greenhouses; (b) comparing the EN 13031-1 pressure coefficients with those stemming from recent experimental studies on single-span pitched and arched roof greenhouses in South Korea; and (c) summarizing most recent comparative results for multi-span greenhouses. It concludes that these recent research studies are not enough to justify revision of EN 13031-1, and more measurement data and experimental or numerical studies are necessary to justify such a conclusion.