Frequency Analysis of Ground Snow Data and Production of the Snow Load Map Using Geographic Information System for the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey

In Turkey, especially in the Eastern Black Sea region, many roofs collapse or damage due to heavy snowfalls exceeding the maximum loads for design have been experienced. Roof snow loads specified for structural design in modern standards are calculated as the product of a design ground snow load and the conversion factors that depend on the roof properties. The aim of this study is to create a map to give precisely the variation of the ground snow loads in the Eastern Black Sea region so that design of roof snow loads in the region can be estimated accurately. To accomplish this purpose, the probability plot correlation coefficient test was examined with three different cumulative distribution functions (Gumbel, Lognormal, and Weibull) to determine the best fit of the theoretical probability distribution with the snow data of 32 Turkish State Meteorological Service weather stations located in the Eastern Black Sea region and adjacent cities. After the 50-year ground snow loads were determined using the data collected from each station, the ground snow load map of the region was produced using a geographic information system. The approaches in Turkish codes of TS 498 and TS 7046 were also discussed along with the results obtained in the study.