Characterisation of pressure coefficients on hyperbolic paraboloid roofs

The necessity of covering large areas without intermediate supports requires the design of medium to large span roofs. Tensile structures made of cable nets represent, among other structural solutions, one of the technologies available to do this. They owe their appeal to lightness, cost-effectiveness and aesthetics. For these structures, however there is a lack of clear regulations concerning structural design, especially regarding assessment of environmental loads. This paper is part of an extensive research project on the behaviour of tensile hyperbolic paraboloid roofs. The first stage of the project developed a procedure for optimisation of their shapes during preliminary design. The second stage, the results of which are presented here, focused on characterisation of wind pressure distributions. The results of wind tunnel tests are discussed and synthesised in pressure coefficient maps. These can be used for design applications and lend themselves to implementation in Codes. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.