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["Timothy Allison" <t_allison(--nospam--at)illinoisalumni.org>]

Sorry if this is duplicate - I haven't seen it post to the listserv...



In Section 7.9 of ASCE 7, the designer is directed to consider all of the snow from a sloped roof above to have fallen onto the lower roof. I have two questions regarding this:

1) Is the superimposed load from sliding snow to be applied uniformly over the lower roof? If it is tapered, where are the equations explaining how far to project the sliding snow load?
2) Is there some point that the sliding load can be neglected, based on relative elevations? If the eave of the upper roof is at a height of 12', and the lower roof at this location is only a few inches below, it seems ludicrous to think that the entire upper roof could/would actually slide down.

Thanks