Incorporation of additional information into the South African Wind Load Formulation

The South African wind loading standard SANS 10160-3:2019 recently adopted an improved map of characteristic basic wind speeds and increased the wind loading partial safety factor from 1.3 to 1.6. These changes represent an overhaul of the design wind loads throughout South Africa and were the result of several studies on the wind loading standard. Since these studies were conducted, substantially more wind speed data has been made available. This investigation aimed to use this data to assess the current design loads by estimating location-specific design values that maintain the current reliability level of the standard. A statistical test was developed to assess whether the design values in SANS 10160-3:2019 could be supported by the new data. It was found that several updates could be considered. These were incorporated into a new recommended map of basic wind speeds that could be considered for inclusion in the next revision of SANS 10160-3.