E UROCODES S PREADSHEETS S TRUCTURAL D ESIGN

S ECTION 1 E UROCODE 1 EN 1991-1-3

Figure 1.8 Snow loads on snowguards and other obstacles (“Fs” characteristic load).

• s is the most onerous undrifted load case appropriate for the roof under
consideration (see Section 5.2)
•  = 3 kN  m 3 is the weight density of snow
• k is a coefficient to take account of the irregular shape of the snow (the
values of k may be given in the National Annex). The recommended way
for calculating k is as follows:

 k = 3---
 d


 k  d

where d is the depth of the snow layer on the roof in meters.

SNOW LOADS ON SNOWGUARDS AND OTHER OBSTACLES.   Under certain conditions snow may
slide down a pitched or curved roof (see Figure above). The coefficient of friction
between the snow and the roof should be assumed to be zero. For this
calculation the force F s exerted by a sliding mass of snow, in the direction of
slide, per unit length of the building should be taken as:

F s = s  b  sin  (Eq. 1‐6)

where:
• s is the snow load on the roof relative to the most onerous undrifted load
case appropriate for roof area from which snow could slide (see 5.2, 5.3)
• b is the width on plan (horizontal) from the guard or obstacle to the next
guard or to the ridge
•  is the pitch of the roof, measured from the horizontal.

page 16 Topic: User’s Manual/Verification tests - EN1991-1-3_(a).xls