Balcony Divider on High Rise - Wind Tunnel Study (positive and negative pressures)

[Omar A]

Hello my fellow Structural engineers!

We have a situation where client has already installed 6.5' tall glass divider running perpendicular to the southern face of a high rise building in NYC.

There was a wind tunnel study that shows both positive and negative pressures on each face of the building.

1. Would we take the wind pressure from East and West elevations (since the divider is spanning perpendicular to South elevation)
2. Would we take the differential of the positive and negative wind pressure? Or only the positive? or only the negative?

I appreciate any input you may have.

 

[jayrod12]

I feel that this would be more like an overhang, where you would have to account for both the pressure and suction acting simultaneously.

The fact that it is already installed makes it understandably tough to tell the client they need upgrades, but that's also their own fault for not contacting someone about it prior to installation.

 

[jjl317]

A few thoughts -

a) I am not sure that using the East or West elevation values would necessarily be appropriate. From memory, having reviewed a few wind load studies that included the effects on balconies, I don't necessarily believe that they correlated to the "wall" conditions.
b) I would agree with jayrod12 that some combination of positive and negative would likely be appropriate.
c) Typically the wind load study will include internal pressure, that you could potentially "back out", assuming the divider is solid and wouldn't see internal pressures. This information is typically in the fine print of the report.
d) Another option might be to look at the divider wall as a solid sign, and develop loads per ASCE 7, then compare to the various combinations provided by the wind load study.