An Analysis of Snow and Wind Loads Combinations Based on Meteorological Data

The objective of this paper is to present a probabilistic method of analyzing the combinations of snow and wind loads using meteorological data and to determine their combination factors. Calculations are based on data measured at twelve Polish meteorological stations operated by the Institute for Meteorology and Water Management. Data provided are from the years 1966 - 2010. Five combinations of snow load and 10-minute mean wind velocity pressure have been considered. Gumbel probability distribution has been used to fit the empirical distributions of the data. As a result, the interdependence between wind velocity pressure and snow load on the ground for a return period of 50 years has been provided, and the values of the combination factors for snow loads and wind actions are proposed.