Wind load analysis of buildings in hill-shape zone

Influence of wind load as a natural phenomenon on structures, especially tall buildings cannot be ignored. It is significant to consider the effect of wind in design and analysis of buildings. The magnitude of wind velocity alters significantly for equivalent structures located at various locations due to the changes in local roughness. In this study wind shear force for one case study building with application of hospital, located in Washington, D.C. with three different heights (Low-Rise, Mid-Rise and High-Rise) was evaluated based on two structural codes, namely UBC97 and IBC2000. The building is posed on top of hill-shape zone. A model of the structure was created in SAP2000 software to validate results of manual calculations based on two codes. The outcome of study demonstrates by increasing building's height, wind load also increases. Also, it is shown that wind shear force applied on the building in three different heights based on UBC97 is higher than IBC2000, so UBC97 is more conservative. Moreover, the distribution of wind load along the height of building based on two codes is different. IBC 2000 considers more details about topographic features of area and presents more accurate distribution of wind load along the height of building.