This work will study indepth the factors that influence the formation of snow drift loads on multilevel roofs. Two type of factors will be examined: the geometric properties of the building, e.g., ratio of buildings windward face, ratio of building light to upper roof's length, etc.; environmental factors, e.g., ground snow load, windspeed during and after snow falls, etc. The objective of this work is to improve the knowledge related to these factors, to assess the current state-of-the-art for determining drift loads on multilevel roofs, and to formulate models for predicting the 50-Year Mean Recurrence Interval Drift Load. The results of this project will be of use to building codes and load standards so as to investigate structure failures due to snow drifts.
