A survey of snow loads on the roofs of arena-type buildings in Canada

Abstract

The paper presents data on snow loads on three shapes of arena-type structures in Canada: the cylindrical arch, and the gable and Hipel roofs. Since there has never been a regular annual survey of snow on arenas, the data were compiled from a 4 year pilot study of snow on Quonset-type buildings, from case histories, and from newspaper clippings.The data indicate that the maxima of the loads recommended for design in Commentary H on snow loads published in Supplement No. 4 to the National Building Code of Canada 1977 can be exceeded.Further, it appears from the data that three loading cases should be considered in the design of curved roofs: uniformly distributed, unbalanced, and symmetrical loads. It is apparent also that the unbalanced loads recommended for gable roofs may be too conservative.