WIND LOADS ON BOUNDARY WALLS - FULL-SCALE STUDIES

Recent revisions to the wind loading codes for the UK and Australia, a nd the recent draft European Standard, Eurocode 1, provide new, more o nerous, pressure coefficient data for the design of boundary, or free- standing walls. This design information, although obtained from modern wind-tunnel tests, has been called into question by various intereste d parties. In 1993, a research programme was initiated to undertake an independent, full-scale study of the wind pressures on free-standing walls in order to critically appraise the new data and to determine re liable design data. The full-scale, variable-geometry experimental fac ility which includes automatic, rapid, data-logging instrumentation is described, and results are presented which show the strong dependenci es loads have on wall length, wind direction, position along wall, the presence of a gap, and the presence of return corners. Despite the si mplicity of its structural form, the free-standing wall produces surpr ising aerodynamic effects which have prompted complementary work: refe rence is made to collaborative research, both model-wind-tunnel testin g and computational modelling, which are helping to resolve some of th e outstanding questions.