Arevised ground snow loading map for the UK

A revised UK and Eire ground snow load map has been produced building on an EC funded European Research Group study. The revised map eliminates some of the small zones that were present and uses a different load-altitude relationship and set of zone bands to make it more appropriate for use in design. The revised map has been compared with the existing map in BS 6399: Part 3 and found to give similar variation in loads, thus supporting the new mapping techniques. A 100m normalising datum has been used on the revised map as this simplifies the design process for altitudes below 100m and UK designers will be familiar with this approach as it is currently (2001) used in the British Standard. The revised map is proposed for adoption in the National Annex to the emerging Eurocode on snow loading (prEN 1991-1-3) and in any amendments to BS 6399: Part 3.

Mary E. Brettle, BEng
Centre for Structural Engineering, BRE, Watford, UK