Effects of Building Scale Parameters on Pressure Equalization Capacity of Roof Paver Systems

Roof pavers are commonly installed with a cavity beneath the paver that develops an internal suction pressure. These cavity pressures reduce the net pressure felt by a roof paver subject to uplift. Paver-scale parameter effects are well-understood, in this study, the effects of changing building-scale parameters such as height, aspect ratio, afterbody length, small and large scale roof obstructions, and paver to roof size ratio on cavity pressures are investigated. To do so pressure measurements were taken at the University of Western Ontario’s Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory on a modular flat roof building model at four different heights with four different plan aspect ratios per height. It was found that size and shape of the separation vortices affect the pressure equalization capacity of the system. It was also found that the ratio of paver size to roof size greatly impacts the magnitude of peak pressures observed