Wind tunnel tests on hyperbolic paraboloid roofs with elliptical plane shapes

No parametric data exists in the main international standards to calculate wind action on buildings with hyperbolic paraboloid roofs. This type of roof, however, is particularly efficient in covering medium to large spans and is highly competitive compared to traditional structures. Our research aims at parame-terization of pressure coefficients on roofs with hyperbolic paraboloid shapes with four different footprints, respectively, square, rectangular, circular and elliptical.This paper studies the elliptical shape in particular. Aerodynamic wind tunnel tests have been performed on these shapes with the object of calculating pressure coefficients. A comparison is also made between elliptical and circular shapes in order to demonstrate the high efficiency of the elliptical shape. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.