EFFECT OF EAVES GUTTER ON WIND LOADINGS ON LOW-RISE BUILDINGS’ ROOFS

In order to study the effect of configuration details of the roof eaves gutter on the wind loadings on roofs of low-rise buildings, the rigid model pressure measurement tests of typical low-rise buildings of four types of roofs with and without eaves gutter were conducted in TJ-2 wind tunnel laboratory, which are roofs with flush gable wall and with\without ridge respectively, and roofs with protruding gable wall and with\without ridge respectively. The results show that the existence of eaves gutter is effective in decreasing the mean and worst peak wind pressure of each region, which are used for main wind force resisting system and components and cladding design, respectively, in particular to the worst peak negative pressure, 30 percent of which is reduced at most. The mean and peak negative pressure of each region of the roofs are alleviated to varied degrees when the building is equipped with ridge, protruding gable wall and eaves gutter, the loads of the zones where are negative seriously are mitigated largely, up to 60 percent of which is relieved at most, thus the loads of each region are getting uniform. Moreover, with the increasing of whose heights, this effect is more evident, which is quite favorable for building wind resistance.