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Identification of zones of strong wind events in South Africa

Abstract This paper summarises the initial stage of development of a wind damage/disaster risk model for South Africa. The aim is to identify the generic zones of various types of strong wind events. The extent of these zones will form the basis for determining the characterisitics of typical wind events and subsequently their probabilities of occurrence. No information of this nature is currently available for South Africa.

ISO2394:2015 Annex D (Reliability of Geotechnical Structures)

ABSTRACT ISO2394:2015 contains a new informative Annex D on “Reliability of Geotechnical Structures”. The emphasis in Annex D is to identify and characterize critical elements of the geotechnical reliability-based design process, while respecting the diversity of geotechnical engineering practice. This paper highlights the main features of Annex D and gaps for future work.

Variability of time independent wind load components

This paper investigates the variability of the primary time independent components of the design wind load formulation. It is shown that the variability of these components has a significant influence on the total reliability of wind loads. The use of comparative studies of international wind load standards as an indicator of the variability of the time independent wind load components is discussed. A two part comparative study is done to determine the variability. It is found that the existing representative probability model of wind load components underestimates even a lower limit estimate of the variability of these components, particularly for pressure coefficients. Furthermore, insight is gained into the effects of various structural and wind load parameters on the total variability of wind loads.

Comparative study between Poland and South Africa wind climates, the related damage and implications of adopting the eurocode for wind action on buildings

Abstract Wind constitutes one of the major environmental factors affecting the design and performance of built environment. Each country has its unique climatic wind conditions, and the way in which these are considered and implemented in the structural design, is important. An implementation or adoption of any new engineering design stipulations introduces a formidable challenge to the developers of the standards and the design profession. This has been experienced in some of the countries (e.g. the UK, Australia and the USA), where processes of modernising the outdated codification took place in the past. Although both Poland and South Africa are currently at the early implementation stage of the new wind loading design stipulations, there is a major difference between the circumstances of the two countries. Poland, as an EU member state, has a compulsory obligation to adopt the new uniform standarisation requirements, within a stipulated time-frame. The South African code developers, after a thorough investigation process which will be highlighted in the paper, decided voluntarily to adopt the Eurocode as the primary model document

Principles and application of Structural Design Code development in South Africa

Abstract Structural design codes reflect the customs in construction, available materials, training and other characteristics of the regions from where they originate. However, owing to globalisation, and a worldwide trend in which structural design codes are being harmonised, the application of international codes locally requires a proper framework and guidelines in order to match the implicit basis of these codes to local conditions and requirements. South Africa is in the process of revising their suite of structural design codes, and has opted to use the Eurocode suite of codes as reference material for this process. Inherent differences between the environment in which Eurocode and such transferred codes will operate makes it imperative that local implementation be based on a fundamental approach of code development. The paper presents a scheme that can serve as guidelines for code development, based on a set of attributes serving as the driving potential for the process, within the context of the technical nature of structural design codes, some meta- technical characteristics and organisational relationships. The application of the scheme is demonstrated by showing examples of how selected Eurocode standards are applied as South African codes.