Production of ground snow load map and determination of roof snow loads in Eastern Anatolia region

Turkey is a country which is affected by seasonal snowfall because of its geographical position. Therefore, roof snow loads should be determined correctly while designing buildings. This is especially important for steel structures since their own weight are small. Because the snow loads are not determined correctly, roof damages and collapses are observed frequently in Turkey, especially in the regions which have too much snowfall.In this study, to determine the optimum snow loads of roofs in the Eastern Anatolia Region, snowfall data of the 42 stations of the State Meteorological Service (DMİ) in the Eastern Anatolia Region and its neighbor cities were used. Mean ground snow loads which have 50 and 100 year return periods were determined for these stations by statistical analysis method. To determine the variation of ground snow loads in the Eastern Anatolia Region, normalized ground snow loads map of that region were produced by CBS technique using ground snow loads which have 50 and 100 year return periods. To obtain the value of any point on that map, an equation with 2 parameters was derived. Ground snow load maps which show the values of any point were produced by using elevation maps and previous normalized ground snow load maps together to get maps which are independent of the equation. Ground snow loads obtained by statistical methods and normalized ground snow loads obtained from maps were compared to the snow loads recommended by TS 498 and TS 7046 and up-dating was suggested for required parts. Snow loads for gable roofs were calculated by using the conversion coefficients from ANSI/ASCE 7-05, TS 498 and TS 7046 codes. The results were shown in tabular form.When the results were compared to the recommended values by Turkish Standards, it was seen that recommended snow load of the Eastern Anatolia Region by TS 498 is mostly unsafe and statistical analysis method by TS 7046 is not economical for any case.