J. Acad. Indus. Res. Vol.

1(11) April 2013 706

ISSN: 2278-5213

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effects of wind incidence angle on wind loads on hoardings

Amit Agrawal*, Ashok K. Ahuja and Pramod K. Gupta
Civil Engineering Department, I.I.T.R, Roorkee, India
*
jhohamit@gmail.com ; ahujafce@iitr.ernet.in; pkgupfce@iitr.ernet.in; +91 7830544853
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Abstract
An experimental study carried out on the models of hoardings in a wind tunnel to study the effect of wind
incidence angle on wind loads acting on it. Influence of height to width ratio is also studied by varying the
width of hoardings while keeping the height as same. Base shear, base moment and twisting moment
generated due to wind load acting on it are measured and reported in the study. It was noticed that base
shear and base moments on the hoardings are maximum when wind hits perpendicular to hoarding and are
minimum when blows parallel to hoarding surface and twisting moment on hoarding is maximum generally at
45 wind incidence angle. Hoardings with width to height ratio around 8.0 is subjected to very large value of
twisting moment at 45 angle as compared to its values at other angles.
Keywords: Wind incidence angle, width ratio, hoardings, base shear, twisting moment, base moment.

Introduction
A hoarding, although not an important structure is a Fig. 1. Elevation of hoarding models.
useful structure as it gives information about road
direction, product information etc. A hoarding which is
mostly susceptible to wind loads usually fails in turbulent
wind conditions if not designed properly. Standards on
wind loads [A/S: 1170.2 (2002), ASCE: 7-02 (2002), BS:
63699 (1995), EN: 1991-1-4 (2005) and IS: 875 (part-3)
(1987)] give limited information about wind loads on
hoardings. Further, review of literature indicates that very
(All dimensions are in mm)
limited amount of research work has been done in this
area. Letchford and Holmes (1994) studied wind loads Fig. 2. Three-dimensional view of hoarding models.
on free standing walls in turbulent boundary layers.
Richards and Robinson (1999) studied wind load on
porous structures. Letchford (2001) measured drag
coefficient on a range of rectangular hoardings with
varying aspect ratio, clearance ratio and porosity.
Giannoulis et al. (2012) studied wind loading on vertical
panels with different permeabilities. The available
information about wind loads on hoardings is still not A B C D E
sufficient enough. It is, therefore, decided to carry out
experimental study on the models of rectangular shape
hoardings resting on ground in order to generate more Fig. 3. Wooden hoarding models.
information in this area.

Materials and methods

Details of models: Five sizes of prototype hoardings are
considered in this study with dimensions as 0.5 x 1.0 m,
A B C
1.0 x 1.0 m, 2.0 x 1.0 m, 4.0 x 1.0 m and 8.0 x 1.0 m.
Further, these are assumed to be resting on ground.
Five rigid models namely A, B, C, D and E (Fig. 1-3) of
aspect ratios 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 and 8.0 are made using
plywood at a scale of 1:10. All the models have a height D
of 100 mm (Table 1).

Flow characteristics: The models are tested under the

boundary layer flow in an open circuit wind tunnel.
E

©Youth Education and Research Trust (YERT) Amit Agrawal et al., 2013
J. Acad. Indus. Res. Vol. 1(11) April 2013 707

Fig. 5. Effect of wind incidence angle on along wind load.

Table 1. Details of hoarding models.
Model Vref = 9.78 m/s
Width (b) mm Height (h) mm b/h ratio
designation
400
A 50 100 0.5

Base shear Fx (gm)

B 100 100 1.0 300
C 200 100 2.0 A
D 400 100 4.0 200 B
E 800 100 8.0
100 C
D
0
Fig. 4. Representation of wind loads and wind direction E
on hoarding models. 0 15 30 45 60 75 90
-100
Wind incidence angle ()

Fig. 6. Effect of wind incidence angle () on along wind load.

Vref = 9.78 m/s
400

Base shear Fx (gm)

300

200

100
The wind tunnel has cross-section of 2 m (width) x 2 m 0
(height) and the length of the test section is 15 m. Floor A B C D E
roughing devices namely vortex generators, barrier wall, -100
Model
cubical blocks are used on the upstream end of the test
section to achieve the mean wind velocity profile 0 15 30 45 60 75 90
corresponding to terrain category 2 as per Indian
standard on wind loads. The models are tested under
Fig. 7. Comparison of base moment due to along wind load on
free stream wind velocity of 9.78 m/s measured at 1 m different models.
height above the floor of the tunnel.
Vref = 9.78 m/s
Base moment My (gm-mm)

Measurement technique: Rigid models of the hoardings 25000

are placed on five component load cell located at 20000 A
11.85 m from the upstream end of the test section, one 15000 B
by one and base shear, base moment and twisting
10000 C
moment acting on the models are measured for wind
incidence angles 0 to 90 at an interval of 15 (Fig. 4). 5000 D

Values of all five forces are recorded for 60 sec at an 0 E

interval of 1 sec and average values are calculated. -5000 0 15 30 45 60 75 90

Results and discussion Wind incidence angle ()

Variation of base shear, in the direction of wind (Fx),
base moment about Y-axis (My) and twisting moment Fig. 8. Comparison of base moment due to along wind load
about vertical axis (Mz) measured on five models of on different models.
hoardings namely A, B, C, D and E as a function of wind Vref = 9.78 m/s
incidence angle are shown in Figure 5 to 9. It is noticed 25000
Base moment My (gm-mm)

from figure 5 and 6 that maximum value of Fx is obtained 20000

on all models A, B, C, D and E at wind incidence angle of
0 due to maximum exposed area and minimum value at 15000
90 angle with almost linear variation between them. In 10000
case of model E with b/h ratio = 8.0, ratio of maximum to
5000
minimum wind load is almost 14. In case of model A with
aspect ratio = 0.5, wind load value remains almost same 0
at all wind incidence angles except that its value at 45 -5000 A B C D E
wind incidence angle is even lower than that at 0 and Model
90 angles. Variation of My i.e. base moment is identical
to that of Fx (Fig. 7 and 8). 0 15 30 45 60 75 90

©Youth Education and Research Trust (YERT) Amit Agrawal et al., 2013
J. Acad. Indus. Res. Vol. 1(11) April 2013 708

Fig. 9. Comparison of Mz due to along wind load Acknowledgements

on different models.
The work presented in this manuscript is a part of the
Vref = 9.78 m/s
research work being done by the first author for his
Twisting moment Mz (gm-mm )

25000
M. Tech degree under the supervision of remaining
20000
authors.
15000
10000 References
5000 1. AS/NZS: 1170.2. 2002. Structural design action, Part-2:
Wind action.
0
2. BS: 63699. 1995. Loading for buildings: Part-2: Code of
0 15 30 45 60 75 90 practice for wind loads.
Wind incidence angle () 3. Giannoulis, A., Stathopoulos, T., Briassoulis, D. and
A=0.5 B=1.0 C=2.0 D=4.0 E=8.0
Mistriotis, A. 2012. Wind loading on vertical panels with
different permeabilities. J. Wind Engg. Indus.
Aerodynamics. 107-108: 1-16.
Twisting moment (Mz) is maximum at 45 angle in case 4. Indian Standard: 875 (Part-3). 1987. Code of practice for
models A, B and E with zero values at 0 and 90 design loads (Other than earthquake) for building and
structures.
(Fig. 9). Its value is almost the same at 45 and 60 in 5. Letchford, C.W. 2001. Wind loads on rectangular
case of models C and D. Model E is subjected to very signboards and hoardings. J. Wind Engg. Indus.
large value of twisting moment as compared to other Aerodynamics. 89: 135-151.
models. Value of Mz at 45 is almost 9 times that at 6. Letchford, C.W. and Holmes, J.D. 1994. Wind loads on
15 angle and almost 2.5 times its value at 30. free-standing walls in turbulent boundary layers. J. Wind
Engg. Indus. Aerodynamics. 51: 1-27.
7. Richards, P.J. and Robinson, M. 1999. Wind loads on
Conclusion porous structures. J. Wind Engg. Indus. Aerodynamics. 83:
Following conclusions are drawn from the experimental 455-465.
study: 8. EN: 1991-1-4. 2005. Euro code 1: Actions on structures-
1. Base shear and base moments on the hoardings are wind actions.
maximum when wind hits perpendicular to hoarding 9. ASCE: 7-02. 2002. Minimum design loads for buildings and
and are minimum when blows parallel to hoarding others structures.
surface.
2. Twisting moment on hoarding is maximum generally
at 45 wind incidence angle.
3. Hoardings with width to height ratio around 8.0 is
subjected to very large value of twisting moment at
45 angle as compared to its values at other angles.

©Youth Education and Research Trust (YERT) Amit Agrawal et al., 2013