Evaluation of Ground Snow Loads in Turkish Codes Via Statistical Analysis of Turkey Snow Data

Abstract

In Turkey many roofs exposed to snow loads exceeding the design snow loads are damaged or collapsed. Roof snow load specified for structural design in Turkish codes is calculated as the product of a ground snow load multiplied by the conversion factors that depend on the roof properties. In this study, the ground snow loads in Turkish codes are evaluated via statistical analysis of Turkey snow data obtained from 92 Turkish State Meteorological Service stations. The probability plot correlation coefficient test for Gumbel, lognormal and Weibull distributions are used to determine the best fit of the probability distribution considering the snow data. 50-year design ground snow loads and snow depths of the stations determined by using the selected distributions are compared to those proposed in Turkish codes. It is concluded that TS 498 is unsafe for Eastern Black Sea and Eastern Anatolia regions and Gumbel distribution used in TS 7046 does not represent half of the snow data.