PERFORMANCE OF ROOF FASTENERS UNDER SIMULATED LOADING CONDITIONS

Conventionally, in North America, design loads for roof attachment sys tems are determined through static testing. While presenting the devel opment of a dynamic setup, this paper compares the fastener pull-out l oads under static and dynamic conditions. This has been systematically performed for steel and wooden decks under various fastening paramete rs. Experimental data have indicated that the fastener failure load an d mode differ significantly under dynamic testing in comparison to sta tic testing. With steel decks, the fastener pull-out resistance decrea sed by 30-50% under dynamic conditions, whereas results with wooden de cks, the resistance decreased by 10-30%. Therefore, for the design of mechanically attached roofing systems, one should use for the fastener s the allowable design load derived from dynamic testing. Preliminary investigations have also been carried out and further research efforts are in progress on the fastener service life predictions.