Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 90 (2002) 461474

Wind pressures on permeably and impermeably-clad structures

A.P. Robertsona,*, Ph. Rouxb, J. Gratraudb, G. Scarasciac, S. Castellanoc, M. Dufresne de Vireld, P. Palierd
a

Silsoe Research Institute, Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4HS, UK b CEMAGREF, BP 5095, 34033 Montpellier, Cedex 1, France c University of Bari, Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy d CSTB, F-44071 Nantes, Cedex 3, France

Abstract The rst European Standard for the design of commercial-production greenhouses passed through the formal voting stage in 2000 and its publication is imminent. For structural design considerations, it is based on the Eurocodes, and so for wind loading it is based on ENV 19912-4: 1995, although it provides additional information where specic data are available. During the drafting exercise, one deciency identied in available wind loading information was that of pressure coefcient data for permeably clad structures. Greenhouses, particularly at shading structures and curved roof houses, are often clad in permeable shade or insectproof netting in southern Europe to reduce solar radiation gain and to increase ventilation. To facilitate reliable design of such structures, pressure data were obtained from large-scale tests conducted in the Jules Verne climatic wind tunnel at CSTB, Nantes, in November 1999. This paper reports the experiments conducted on an arch structure and on a at-roof structure, where each was clad in turn in an impermeable plastic lm, an insect net of 33% open area, and a shade net of 39% open area. The pressure coefcient data obtained with each cladding are compared for each of the two structural forms. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Wind loads; Porous cladding; Netting; Pressure coefcients; Greenhouses

1. Introduction There are some 90,000 ha of commercial greenhouses in the EU. These are the production sites for the European protected horticultural industry. Such greenhouses
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-1525-860000; fax: +44-1525-861735. E-mail address: adam.robertson@bbsrc.ac.uk (A.P. Robertson). 0167-6105/02/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 6 7 - 6 1 0 5 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 2 1 0 - 0

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are designed to lower levels of structural safety than are conventional structures. This is for a variety of reasons, including tradition, low levels of human occupancy, the need to minimise capital costs in an extremely competitive market, and because crop yield is directly proportional to light transmission level, so demanding a minimum of opaque structural members. Greenhouses are consequently very lightweight structures that are particularly sensitive to wind and snow loading. Because of the low safety margins employed in design, it is particularly important that the loading data are accurate and relate directly to the special forms and features of greenhouses. Such considerations have featured throughout the deliberations of CEN/TC 284 between 1992 and 2000 in developing prEN 13031-1: Greenhouses: design and construction. Part 1: commercial production greenhouses [1]. This draft European Standard (EN) is based on the Structural Eurocodes, but wherever supplementary information was needed and was available, or wherever dedicated information (derived specically from reputable tests on greenhouse structures) was available, it has been incorporated into the draft EN. For example, no appropriate rules were contained in Eurocode 3 [2] for the design of slender monotubular steel arches that are commonly used for polytunnel greenhouses, so structural tests were conducted on representative frames to formulate rules [3] that have been included in the draft EN for greenhouse design. It was also recognised that there was a general shortage of wind loading data in Eurocode 1 [4] for permeably clad structures which are fairly commonplace in horticulture when woven, porous, shade (or insect-proof) nettings are used for the cladding material. Snow load distributions on arched-roof structures was a further area where a shortfall in data was seen to exist and research has been undertaken to try to address this [5]. A successful application was made to the European research programme Training and mobility of researchers: Access to large scale facilities to utilise the Jules Verne climatic wind tunnel facility at CSTB, Nantes, to undertake tests on large models of greenhouse structures in order to provide new wind and snow loading data. The snow loading tests were undertaken in October 1999, and the wind loading part of the programme was undertaken during a limited 5 day period from 15th to 19th November 1999.

2. Methodology 2.1. Wind tunnel facility The inner Thermal circuit wind tunnel at the CSTB Jules Verne facility was used (Fig. 1). The working section measures 10 m wide by 7 m high by 25 m long, through which a maximum wind speed of 38 m/s can be achieved. The tests were conducted at wind speeds of 816 m/s as measured at the 4.06 m high reference position near the top of the 4.5 m high by 6 m wide jet inlet section. An attempt was made to reproduce the near-ground atmospheric boundary layer characteristics for a rural site as reported by Hoxey and Richards [6] by introducing horizontal wooden slats across the tunnel and roughness elements on the oor

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Fig. 1. Schematic of test arrangement in the Thermal circuit of the Jules Verne wind tunnel facility at CSTB, Nantes (dimensions in m).

200 150 100 50 0 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300

Fig. 2. Outline cross-section of the arched polytunnel model with 15 pressure monitoring locations (dimensions in cm).

(Fig. 1). The velocity prole was measured just upwind of the model position (but with no model present) using an array of pitot-static probes, and the static pressure was measured at the model ridge position (again with no model present) to provide a static pressure correction. The velocity ratio between the model ridge height and the reference was 0.88. The resulting velocity prole approximated to a logarithmic prole with a roughness length of 9 mm. The turbulence intensity at the mouth of the jet decreased from approximately 15% near the ground to approximately 5% between 2 and 3 m height. The static pressure correction was of the order of 0.07Cp when no model was present. 2.2. Experimental models and claddings Two test models were constructed at 1:2 scale, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3. The polytunnel arch was of 4 m span and 1.83 m height (its prole differed from semicircular in that it had a atter top). The shade house was a at roofed structure of 6 m span and 1.68 m height; it had rounded eaves (radius of curvature 0.33 m). The models were clad in 3 different materials, all of which are used in practice: conventional impermeable 120 mm thick polythene lm sheet, plastic insect netting,

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200 150 100 50 0 -400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400
Fig. 3. Outline cross-section of the rectangular shading structure model with 15 pressure monitoring locations (dimensions in cm).

and plastic shade netting. The porosities of the nets were determined at CEMAGREF, Montpellier, using a binocular microscope equipped with a digital camera, and Optimas software to analyse the images. The porosity (or open area ratio), b, of the insect netting was 33% (b33 0:33), and of the shade netting was 39% (b39 0:39), where the ratio is dened simply as the open area per unit total area. The shade netting comprised both at and cylindrical (knitted) elements and rectangular holes, whilst the insect netting comprised principally cylindrical elements and rectangular holes. Loss coefcients, k; and discharge coefcients, CD ; were evaluated for the netting materials using a fan test rig at Silsoe Research Institute [7]. The loss coefcients were k33 4:3; and k39 3:6: The discharge coefcients were CD33 0:49; and CD39 0:53; although these coefcient values varied by up to 0.1 depending on air ow rate and pretension in the net. The relationship between the b and k values is in reasonable agreement with that given by Richards and Robinson [8] for low porosity materials: k 1 b2 =b2 ; The above experimentally measured values of k and CD are in reasonably good agreement with their theoretical relationship:
2 k 1=CD

when both parameters are evaluated with respect to the total area of the sample. The polytunnel model clad in the insect netting is shown in Fig. 4, and the shading house model clad in the shade netting is shown in Fig. 5. Both gures show smoke being used to visualise air ow in the Jules Verne thermal circuit wind tunnel. 2.3. Instrumentation External and internal pressures were sensed on either side of the permeable cladding using special static probes developed for full-scale measurements of wind pressures on buildings under natural, turbulent wind conditions [9]. The probes were mounted in pairs approximately 5 cm to either side of the cladding (as close as possible whilst avoiding any fouling arising from displacement or apping of the

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Fig. 4. Polytunnel model clad in 33% open area insect netting.

Fig. 5. Shade house model clad in 39% open area shade netting.

cladding). Fifteen pairs of sensors were mounted around a line at the mid-length of each building (Figs. 2 and 3). The static pressure probes can be seen positioned around each model at the central position across the width of the wind tunnel in Figs. 4 and 5. All the sensed pressures were transmitted pneumatically along lengths

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of exible plastic tubing to the CSTB wind tunnel pressure acquisition system, which sampled the records at 16 Hz for 60 s [10]. The central (4 m wide) section of each model was constructed on a rigid base framework which was mounted on four load-cells. These load-cells enabled the overall uplift and drag forces on the central section to be monitored. The cladding to these central sections was tensioned through 3 additional, load-cells, which enabled the pre-tension and wind-induced tension to be monitored. In all cases, the cladding was xed in the conventional manner along the bottom edge on either side of the structure only (no intermediate xings around the wall/roof faces). A dummy section was added to either end of each model to extend the models to within approximately 1 m of the side walls of the 10 m wide tunnel (i.e. such that the models were approximately two-dimensional). The data from the load-cells remain to be processed, and so will be reported in a subsequent publication. In each test, the gable-ends were clad in the same material as was used to clad the length of the structure. When the polytunnel model was clad in impermeable polythene lm sheet, external surface pressures were monitored using ush-mounted tappings located at the centre of thin aluminium discs clamped to the polythene lm, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. These ush-mounted tappings were the same as those used in earlier full-scale

Fig. 6. Polythene lm sheet cladding on polytunnel with pressure tappings mounted in the lm.

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Fig. 7. General view of polytunnel model clad in impermeable polythene lm sheet.

wind pressure measurements on polytunnel structures [11]. For selected tappings, a static probe was positioned transversely to the ow and close to the tapping (approximately 5 cm away) to enable comparisons to be made between tapping-hole and pressure-probe measurements (Fig. 6), and very good agreement was found. Displacements of the lm plastic were also measured using a laser. A white coating was applied to the lm plastic to provide a reective surface for the laser measurements (Fig. 7). These results also remain to be processed and so will also be reported at a later date.

3. Results Observations of displacements of the lm-plastic cladding on the polytunnel structure during testing indicated that representative pressure distributions were being achieved in the wind tunnel. Fig. 8 shows the extent of lifting of the cladding away from the timber arch just to the windward side of the ridge. This concurred with full-scale observations and measurements where high external suctions reach their greatest magnitude just to the windward side of the ridge and produce maximum lifting of the cladding away from the structure [12]. Mean pressure coefcients were determined from the experimental data in the conventional manner. The reference static pressure, and reference free-stream wind dynamic pressure were corrected to obtain representative values at the model position. In all the presented results, the wind direction is from left to right and negative coefcients denote pressures acting away from the cladding (i.e. suctions). Unless otherwise stated, all the data were obtained for a 12 m/s reference wind speed.

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Fig. 8. Depiction of wind-induced lifting of lm plastic cladding to windward side (left) of ridge of polytunnel arch.

1.0

0.5

Film Insect net Shade net Full-scale film Eurocode

0.0

Cpe

0 -0.5

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

-1.0

-1.5

% Circumference
Fig. 9. External pressure coefcients for polytunnel arch, and comparisons with full-scale data and Eurocode 1.

Fig. 9 shows the mean external pressure coefcients for the polytunnel arch when clad in all 3 materials. Also shown are results from full-scale measurements on a lmplastic clad polytunnel structure of similar geometry [11]. It can be seen that the model test on the lm-plastic polytunnel reproduced the positive windward pressures well, but failed to reproduce the severity of the external suctions over the top of the arch, both in terms of magnitude and extent around the arch. This is indicative of

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early separation from the curved surface, which is consistent with ow observations such as that shown in Fig. 4, although this is for the polytunnel clad in the insect net (b33=0.33). The early ow separation is probably a result of the jet inlet arrangement and the consequential divergence of the ow on leaving the mouth of the jet. The static pressure correction indicated an adverse pressure gradient, which is consistent with ow divergence. The absence of negative external pressures on the leeward side of the arch suggests that adequate correction of the static pressure gradient may not be achievable from the single-point correction measurement at the model ridge location, or that a decient wake ow was being reproduced. Fig. 10 shows the effect of wind speed on the external suctions generated over the arch in the wind tunnel. The maximum suctions steadily increase with wind speed, but not to an extent that approaches the full-scale distribution (Fig. 9). There are at least three possible explanations for this modest increase in suctions with wind speed: Reynolds number, blockage, and aero-elasticity. An aero-elastic effect arises with polytunnels because the exible plastic-lm cladding is usually simply wrapped around the arch from one side to the other and is anchored only at the ground level, with no intermediate xings around the circumference of the arch. The lm plastic is thus able to lift away from the arches in regions of high uplift, as illustrated in Fig. 8. The extent of uplift depends strongly on the pre-tension achieved at the time of cladding, the elasticity of the lm, temperature, etc. Uplifting of the cladding changes the geometry and tends to increase the suctions over the region where uplifting occurs, particularly with atter-topped arches [12]. The process thus tends to be progressive, and so although there may be a blockage and/or Reynolds number effect, this is a likely explanation for the variations shown in Fig. 10. The effect of changing the impermeable lm cladding to a permeable cladding is to destroy the external suctions (Fig. 9) and so remove the tendency for lifting of the

1.0

0.5

8 m/s 12 m/s 14 m/s 16 m/s

Cpe

0.0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

-0.5

-1.0

% Circumference
Fig. 10. Effect of wind speed on external pressure coefcients around lm-clad polytunnel arch.

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cladding (which was supported by observations). The highest positive pressures are just slightly reduced (by an amount related to the porosity), but the extent of the positive pressure area increases signicantly from just over 20% to nearly 40% of the way around the circumference. The CEN Eurocode 1 [4] provides a distinct worstcase envelope, over-estimating even the most severe, full-scale, impermeably clad external pressure distribution (Fig. 9). The Eurocode data on vaulted roofs were obtained from the results of studies dating back to the early 1960s. It is for reasons such as these that new data for curved roof greenhouse structures have been included in the impending European Greenhouse Standard. The data contained therein are based on the results of a large programme of full-scale studies conducted in the 1980s and 1990s on curved roof polytunnel houses [11,12], and so are considered to provide a more reliable basis for design. In the present work, the overall effect of replacing impermeable cladding with permeable cladding was found to be a reduction in the external uplifts to an extent where they are effectively eliminated, but possibly to increase slightly the net drag. The corresponding mean internal pressure coefcients for the polytunnel are shown in Fig. 11. The coefcients are consistently of small magnitude (0:05oCpi o0:2), particularly with the two permeable claddings. The distributions show a rather surprising periodic oscillation around the circumference of the arch, which is attributed to the presence of fairly substantial longitudinal timber purlins which were in close proximity to some of the internal probes (see Fig. 8) which formed part of the structural framework. The positions of these purlins are indicated in Fig. 11. The mean external pressure coefcients for the at roof shade house when clad in the 3 materials are shown in Fig. 12. Large suctions developed around the windward curved eaves when the house was clad with impermeable lm, and suctions were

1.0

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Film Insect net Shade net

Purlin positions

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0.1

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0.3

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Fig. 11. Internal pressure coefcients for polytunnel arch.

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0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2

471

Film Insect net Shade net Curved eave region

Cpe

0.0 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

% Distance around cladding

Fig. 12. Internal pressure coefcients for at roof shade house.

sustained across the full extent of the at roof. As with the arch structure, however, these suctions were destroyed when the house was clad in the permeable materials, and pressures over the roof were close to zero, although very similar positive pressures were generated over the windward wall. Although not shown in Fig. 12 (for reasons of clarity), Eurocode 1 gives a reasonable representation of the external pressures around the impermeably clad, at-roof, house with curved eaves. The Eurocode slightly under-estimates the peak suction just over the windward eaves, though the experimental values could have been enhanced slightly as a result of an aero-elastic effect, as described earlier for the case of an arch clad in plastic lm. The internal pressure coefcients shown in Fig. 13 were again, as with the arch, consistently small in magnitude (0:05oCpi o0:2), particularly with the two permeable claddings. Local uctuations in internal pressure are again probably attributable to the presence of structural members acting as obstructions to internal ows in the vicinity of some of the internal probes. The small and generally fairly constant internal pressure distributions found with both test structures may be the result of internal ows tending to bleed out transversely through the gable-ends of the models. The ends were approximately 1 m from either side wall of the tunnel, and this together with the relatively close proximity of the model to the mouth of the inlet jet may have led to suction zones around the gables that would tend to extract internal air from the models. The general ndings here of uplift forces being signicantly reduced with porous claddings are consistent with the ndings of Letchford et al. [13] who conducted wind tunnel tests on 1:50 scale mono and duo-pitch canopies with claddings of 0%, 11%, and 23% porosities. Drag loads were found to be much less affected by porosity of cladding, and for several roof geometries were essentially unaffected, which is also consistent with the present ndings. Richards et al. [14] also found from

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0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2

Film Insect net Shade net Curved eave region

Cpi

0.0 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

% Distance around cladding

Fig. 13. Internal pressure coefcients for at roof shade house.

a computational uid dynamics simulation and a wind-tunnel study on a 1:50 scale shade house (similar to the present shade house) that external suctions were signicantly reduced in the case of a 50% porous cladding compared with an impermeable cladding. They further found that negative internal pressures were generated that approximately balanced the external roof suctions to produce virtually no net load on the roof. However, both Letchford et al. [13] and Richards et al. [14] found evidence of increased net loadings on permeably clad windward faces where positive external pressures were generated (in terms of the overall drag, this tended to be countered by a lower net drag on the corresponding leeward face). There is little evidence available from the present study to corroborate this particular point, although there are indications in Fig. 9 that the overall drag on the arched structure increased slightly when it was clad with a permeable net. Further work remains to be done to complete the present study which should help to clarify some of the above interpretations. In particular, the data from the load cells that supported the central 4 m wide section of each model remain to be processed. This will provide an independent measure of the overall loadings on the structure. The data from the additional load-cells that monitored the membrane tension in the lm-plastic cladding on the arch also remain to be processed as part of a further study needed to model the mechanism of load transfer from exible cladding to the structure. The implications for structural design of the different loading distributions generated by permeable claddings needs to be assessed in order to prepare design proposals to facilitate reliable design of permeably clad horticultural structures. Unfortunately it was not possible in this programme of work to test for winds other than in the spanwise direction. Limited time prohibited tests for a longitudinal wind direction, or for any cornering winds. As a result, it has not been possible to obtain pressure data to assist with the design of gable ends in this study.

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4. Conclusions The study has compared the external and internal mean pressure coefcient distributions over a large scale model of an arched polytunnel structure and a at roof shade house structure, where each structure was clad in turn in an impermeable sheet, a 33% porous insect net and a 39% porous shade net. The principal ndings were that the high external suctions developed over parts of each structure when impermeably clad were destroyed when permeably clad, resulting in virtually no net uplift. Positive pressures on windward faces, however, were little affected in terms of their magnitudes by the introduction of a porous cladding, but their zones of operation may be extended, leading possibly to slightly increased net drag loadings. These ndings are in line with those from other recent studies, although there are indications elsewhere that net loads on windward faces experiencing positive external pressures can increase when clad with a porous material, and that overall drag loads may increase slightly for this reason. Once the remaining load-cell data have been analysed and the structural design implications of the results of this work have been established, the present pressure coefcient data and those in the literature will be used to formulate a proposal for inclusion in the forthcoming European Standard for the design of commercial production greenhouses.

References
[1] European Committee for Standardization (CEN), prEN 13031-1 Greenhouses: Design and Construction. Part 1: Commercial Production Greenhouses, CEN, Brussels, May 1999. [2] European Committee for Standardization (CEN), DD ENV 1993-1-1: Eurocode 3: Design of Steel Structures: Part 1.1: General Rules and Rules for Buildings, CEN, Brussels, 1992. [3] Ph. Roux, A.P. Robertson, R. Motro, The design of slender, monotubular steel arches, Struct. Eng. 75 (9) (1997) 143151. [4] European Committee for Standardization (CEN), ENV 1991-2-4: Eurocode 1: Basis of Design and Actions on Structures: Part 2.4: Wind Actions, CEN, Brussels, 1995. [5] G. Scarascia, P. Palier, J. Gratraud, P. Roux, A.P. Robertson, Snow distributions on greenhouses, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Snow Engineering, Trondheim, Norway, 1922 June, 2000. [6] R.P. Hoxey, P.J. Richards, Structure of the atmospheric boundary layer below 25 m and implications on wind loading on low-rise structures, J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 43 (1992) 16411652. [7] L.J. Moulsley, J.M. Randall, R.L. Hartshorn, C.J. Houghton, D.G. Randle, Facilities for measuring fan performance, Divisional Note DN 1408, Silsoe Research Institute, Silsoe, Bedford, April, 1987. [8] P.J. Richards, M. Robinson, Wind loads on porous structures, J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 83 (1999) 455465. [9] P. Moran, R.P. Hoxey, A probe for sensing static pressure in two-dimensional ow, J. Phys. E 12 (1979) 752753. [10] C. Solliec, J. Mary, Simultaneous measurements of uctuating pressures using piezoresistive multichannel transducers as applied to atmospheric wind tunnel tests, J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 56 (1995) 7186. [11] R.P. Hoxey, G.M. Richardson, Measurements of wind loads on full-scale lm plastic clad greenhouses, J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 16 (1984) 5783.

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[12] G.M. Richardson, Full-scale wind load measurements on a single-span lm plastic-clad livestock building, J. Agric. Eng. Res. 55 (1993) 251264. [13] C.W. Letchford, A. Row, A. Vitale, J. Wolbers, Mean wind loads on porous canopy roofs, J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 84 (2000) 197213. [14] P.J. Richards, P.J. Shepard, P. Maharaj, Pressure distributions on shade houses, Proceedings of the Second Asia-Pacic Symposium on Wind Engineering, Beijing, China, 1989, pp. 517524.