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Which is the weakest link? Wind performance of mechanically attached systems

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Abstract
Wind dynamics, on a mechanically attached single ply roofing assembly, lift the membrne and cause fluttering, introducing stresses at the attachment locations. To identify the component of the system that has the weakest resistance against wind uplift forces, a dynamic method of evaluating rooifng systems is beneficial. Each component in the assembly offers resistance to resistance of any one or more of these links. This study presents data that will help roof system designers maximize wind uplift ratings by choosing the appropriate roof comonents at the early design stage or by replaciong/adding components to improve wind uplift resistance during reroofing. by diagnosing the weakest link from the failure mode, one can improve the wind resistance of a system. Therefore, a series of mechanically attached systems (mas) were constructed and exposed to simulate dynamic wind uplift forces at the Dynamic Roofing Facility of the National Research Council Canada (NRC-IRC). The goal of this paper is to present the ongoing experimental program and answer the following questions: 1) by modifying the wind uplift resistance for one of the components, how much does the wind uplift rating of the assembly improve? 2) Does the presence of a vapor barrier (retarder) in a system modify the force resistance chain? If so, to what degree does the wind uplift rating change? 3) Does a difference in steel deck thickness affect the force resistance chain, and how much? Through a case study, this paper concludes with a procedure for system optimization.
Date
3/2006
Author(s)
Bas Baskaran; Steven Kee Pink Ko
Page(s)
29-40
Keyword(s)
wind performance; mechanically attached single ply; uplift resistance


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