Evaluation of Roofing Systems in Malaysia Based on MS 1553, BS 6399, EC1-1-4 and IS 875 Wind Codes

This paper evaluates the performance of different roofing sheet systems for different roof
types using four different codes namely MS 1553, EC1-1-4, IS 875 and BS 6399. The maximum
roof pressures using different codes (MS 1553, EC1-1-4, IS 875 and BS 6399) on critical and
general area of the different roof types considering buildings with non-dominant opening, dominant
opening and canopies have been evaluated. The maximum recommended wind speed in MS 1553
namely 33.5 m/s has been used as the reference for the numerical comparison. The major
differences in the codes include averaging time for wind speed, terrain, reference height, and
pressure coefficients. The study examines the conservativeness or not of the codes if used in the
Malaysian context, even though they have been developed for a different wind climate and region.
Further, the results of static test on different steel roofing sheets used in Malaysia using AS 1562.1
available as the limit state wind pressure capacities in the technical brochures are compared with
design wind pressures for critical and interior regions of the roof for different wind zones. The
suitability of a particular roofing sheet system for a particular wind zone is then assessed.