How wind resistance is calculated for sports covers
Wind is the load that sizes a sports cover. We explain how it is calculated to the Eurocode and what resisting 130 km/h really means.
On sports covers snow matters and self-weight matters, but the load that almost always governs the design is the wind. A cover is, by definition, a large, lightweight surface: exactly the geometry the wind punishes. Here is how it is calculated.
The starting point: basic wind speed
The calculation does not use a universal number. It starts from the basic wind speed of the area where the cover is installed, a value that the EN 1991-1-4 Eurocode tabulates by region. Spain, Italy and the Caribbean have different wind maps, and within one country the coast and the interior are not calculated the same way.
That basic speed is then corrected for:
- Height of the structure above ground.
- Roughness of the surroundings (open country, suburban, city).
- Orography (a cover on top of a hill receives more).
From speed to pressure
The speed is converted into pressure on each surface of the cover through shape coefficients. Here is the nuance many overlook: wind does not only push, it also suctions. On curved and gable covers, the leeward face and the eaves experience suction that can lift the structure if the anchors are not calculated for it.
That is why a well-designed sports cover is anchored with both push and uplift in mind.
What "resists 130 km/h" means
When we say a cover resists 130 km/h, it means the whole structure —membrane, framing, joints and anchors— has been sized for the pressure that speed generates at its site, with the Eurocode safety factors applied. It is not a marketing figure: it is the result of the calculation report.
When the geometry is unusual or the site exposed, we verify the result with CFD simulation (computational fluid dynamics), which models how the air actually flows around the cover.
The question a club should ask
Don't ask "how much wind does it take?" as a catalogue figure. Ask: "what design wind speed was my cover calculated for, in my specific zone?" If the answer is a generic number identical for every project, your cover hasn't been calculated: a cover has.
We deliver a preliminary sizing based on the wind zone of your site. Request the analysis.