Scaffolding is a temporary structure used to support people and
material during construction or maintenance of buildings and
other large structures. It provides a safe place of work with safe
access suitable for the work being done. Such temporary support
systems are widely used because they are economical, convenient
and have a wide range of adaptability.
Safety is the most important issue in civil engineering construction.
Ohdo et al. (2005) investigated scaffolding collapse
accidents and found that about 10% of severe collapse accidents
were due to wind. Thus, wind loads on scaffolding have become an
important issue in scaffolding design. For safety, environmental
and noise considerations, clad scaffolding is becoming more
commonly used, thus increasing the solidity ratio, leading to
larger wind loads on the scaffolding. Yue et al (2005) conducted
wind tunnel experiments in which a practical design of typical
integral-lift scaffolding was taken as a prototype. Four building
opening ratios and thirteen scaffolding solidity ratios were tested.
The wind loads on the scaffolding were measured by a fivecomponent
strain scale. The results showed that the drag force
coefficient of scaffolding increased almost linearly with increase in
scaffolding solidity ratio. For the same condition, the greatest wind
loads acting on the scaffolding occurred when the wall opening
ratio of the building structure was the largest. However, only one
scaffolding geometry with scaffolding completely enclosing the
principal building was tested.
Cladding increases wind loads on scaffolding, and nonporous
cladding increases them the most. It is very difficult to maintain
the stiffness of scaled scaffolding pipes. It is also very difficult to fix
pressure taps on scaled scaffolding tubes and on cladding. Some
researchers have studied wind pressures on nonporous clad
scaffolding by using very thin panel models on which it was easier
to fix pressure taps. Charuvisit et al (2007) studied the characteristics
of wind pressure on clad scaffolding. Five different scaffolding
geometries were considered, but building openings were not
considered. The magnitude of the maximum wind pressure
coefficient was found to be larger when the scaffolding width
was smaller. Besides, wind pressures on the principal scaffolding
were significantly affected by scaffolding placed along another
building side. Hino and Phongkumsing (2005) carried out a series
of wind tunnel experiments on a prototype of a square section
building for four building openings and four scaffolding geometries.
The fundamental characteristics of wind pressures acting on
scaffolding were investigated. When wind flowed into the gap
between the scaffolding and the building surface, wind pressures
on the inner surface of the scaffolding increased. In most cases, the
wind pressures on the outer surface of the scaffolding were not
greatly affected by the building openings. However, there was
only one hole on each side on each floor of the building model
to simulate the openings, which was not very similar to real