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Abstract
Many practicing engineers ( the authors included) have attempted to determine wind pressures on roof mounted screen walls and have wondered which provisions of the American Society of Civil Engineer's Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures (ASCE 7-22) should be used and whether they estimate wind pressures accurately. Wind pressures on these elements can be seemingly difficult to determine with any degree of accuracy and several code provisions within ASCE 7 may appear to provide conflicting information. Screen walls are walls chat project vertically from a roof structure, whose purpose is often to conceal mechanical, electrical, or plumbing (MEP) equipment from view. They can be in any configuration or geometry, and they do not have a roof over chem. They generally are used for aesthetic reasons and are not a part of the primary building structure. The requirements for screen walls are almost always driven by architectural design. Parapets may also serve as screen walls, or screen walls may be parapets. The International Building Code (IBC) defines a parapet as "the part of any wall entirely above the roofline;" while in the context of wind engineering we often assume it is a continuation of the exterior wall above the roofline.
Many practicing engineers ( the authors included) have attempted to determine wind pressures on roof mounted screen walls and have wondered which provisions of the American Society of Civil Engineer's Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures (ASCE 7-22) should be used and whether they estimate wind pressures accurately. Wind pressures on these elements can be seemingly difficult to determine with any degree of accuracy and several code provisions within ASCE 7 may appear to provide conflicting information. Screen walls are walls chat project vertically from a roof structure, whose purpose is often to conceal mechanical, electrical, or plumbing (MEP) equipment from view. They can be in any configuration or geometry, and they do not have a roof over chem. They generally are used for aesthetic reasons and are not a part of the primary building structure. The requirements for screen walls are almost always driven by architectural design. Parapets may also serve as screen walls, or screen walls may be parapets. The International Building Code (IBC) defines a parapet as "the part of any wall entirely above the roofline;" while in the context of wind engineering we often assume it is a continuation of the exterior wall above the roofline.
Date
7/2026
7/2026
Author(s)
Todd Clapp and John O'Brien
Todd Clapp and John O'Brien
Page(s)
8-13
8-13
Source
Structure Magazine
Structure Magazine
Keyword(s)
parapet; wind; pressures; screen
parapet; wind; pressures; screen