Wind zones map - Italy

What are the Italian wind zones according to Eurocode 1 ?

On the map of the national annex, the Italian area is divided by region (and sometimes by province) into nine wind zones identified from 1 to 9. The islands (with the exception of Sicily and Sardinia) and open sea form zone 9.

Zone 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Fundamental value of the basic wind velocity vb,0 25m/s 25m/s 27m/s 28m/s 28m/s 28m/s 28m/s 30m/s 31m/s
Increased wind velocity above elevation a0 1000m 750m 500m 500m 750m 500m 1000m 1500m 500m

Wind zoning of Italy (2010-2024)

How to adjust the basic wind velocity for each direction of wind and according to return period in Italy ?

A variation have to be considered with the probability factor  Cprob.
No reduction can be considered with the directionnal factor  Cdir=1.0.
You should also take in account the effect of the roughness of the terrain (vegetation / urbanization) and the effect of orography (terrain relief) to accurately determine the peak velocity pressure for each wind direction.

Which are the terrain categories in Italy ?

In Italy, the exposure categories are calculated from :

the four roughness classes identified from D to A
the distances to the shorelines
the elevation of the relevant site

Roughness classes

0 -

Area free of obstacles (open countryside, airports, agricultural areas, pastures, swampy or sandy areas, snowy or icy surfaces, sea, lakes, ...)

I -

Areas with widespread obstacles (trees, houses, walls, fences, ...); areas with roughness not attributable to classes A, B, D.

II -

Area with low vegetation such as grass and isolated obstacles (trees, buildings) with separations of at least 20 obstacle heights.

IV -

Area in which at least 15%% of the surface is covered with buildings and their average height exceeds 15m.

Exposure categories for each wind zones

Zones 1 to 5
Distance to the shoreline from  -2 km  to  0 km from  0 km  to  10 km from  10 km  to  40 km more than  10 km 
Elevation - from  0 m  to  500 m from  500 m  to  750 m more than  750 m 
A - IV IV V V V
B - III III IV IV IV
C - * III III IV IV
D I II II II III **
*Category II in zone 1 to 4, category III in zone 5.
**Category III in zone 2 to 5, category IV in zone 1.

Zone 6
Distance to the shoreline from  -2 km  to  0 km from  0 km  to  10 km from  10 km  to  40 km more than  10 km 
Elevation - from  0 km  to  500 km more than  500 km 
A - III IV V V
B - II III IV IV
C - II III III IV
D I I II II III

Zones 7 and 8 Zone 9
Distance to the shoreline from  2 km  to  0.50 km from  -0.5 km  to  0 km on land Distance to the shoreline at sea on land
A - - IV A - I
B - - IV B - I
C - - III C - I
D I II * D I I
*Category II in zone 8, category III in zone 7.

Example of results given by the software

See the features of Eurocodes Zoning for snow analysis in Italy

Available in English/French, otherwise «Google Translate»!

B1 - Localization

Coordinates in World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84)  10.5188° , 43.7455°
Address 56011 Calci, Toscana

B2 - Elevations

Coordinates 10.5181°, 43.7303° 10.5198°, 43.7596° 10.5198°, 43.7596° 10.5179°, 43.7901°
Elevations 60m 798m 798m 109m
Obstacle effective height H 738m 689m
Slope actual length Lu / Ld 3261.4m 3379.8m
Slope angle Φ 22.6% 20.4%
Horizontal distance site/top x 1571.5m
Elevation at the place of construction 216m

B3 - Building

monumental building
50 years
10 m
15°

B4 - Terrain categories

Sectors 1 2 3 4
Categories C C B B
Radius R of the angular sector 1000m
Sectors 1 2 3 4
Sector definition from  330 °  to  60 ° from  60 °  to  150 ° from  150 °  to  240 ° from  240 °  to  330 °
Distance to shore > 100 km > 100 km 21.3 km 19.5 km
Exposure category III III III III

C1 - Snow

UNI EN 1991-1-3 Appendice nazionale 24/09/2010

Zone  : III(sk,0 = 0.6 kN/m²)
Criteria for zoning  : Pisa, Toscana
Characteristic value of snow on the ground at the relevant site  : sk,216 = 0.613 kN/m²
Ground snow load with a return period of 50 years  : s50 ans = 0.613 kN/m²

C2 - Wind

UNI EN 1991-1-3 Appendice nazionale 24/09/2010

Zone  : 3(vb,0 = 27.0 m/s)
Criteria for zoning  : Pisa, Toscana
Sectors 1 2 3 4
Sector definition from  330 °  to  60 ° from  60 °  to  150 ° from  150 °  to  240 ° from  240 °  to  330 °
Value of the basic wind velocity from the map  vb,0 27.0m/s
Elevation above which wind velocity increases  vb,0 500m
Fundamental value of the basic wind velocity  vb,0 27.0m/s
Shape parameter  K 0.138
Exponent n 1
Annual probability of exceedence p 0.02
Probability factor  cprob 1.0
Directional factor  cdir 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Basic wind velocity  vb 27.0m/s 27.0m/s 27.0m/s 27.0m/s
Reference roughness length  z0,II 0.05m
Roughness length  z0 0.1m 0.1m 0.1m 0.1m
Terrain factor  kr 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2
Height above ground z 10.0m
Minimum height  zmin 5.0m 5.0m 5.0m 5.0m
Roughness factor  cr(z) 0.921 0.921 0.921 0.921
Obstacle type isolated hills
Exposure type downwind - upwind -
Factor depending on the type and dimensions of the obstacle  s max 0.444 0.0 0.282 0.0
Orography factor  * co(z) 1.181 1.0 1.128 1.0
Mean wind velocity  vm(z) 29.4m/s 24.9m/s 28.0m/s 24.9m/s
Turbulence factor  kl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Standard deviation of the turbulence  σv 5.4m/s 5.4m/s 5.4m/s 5.4m/s
Turbulence intensity  Iv(z) 0.184 0.217 0.193 0.217
Air density  ρ 1.25kg/m3
Exposure factor  ce(z) 2.706 2.138 2.532 2.138
Peak velocity pressure qp(z) 1233.0N/m2 974.0N/m2 1153.8N/m2 974.0N/m2
Peak wind velocity for Serviceability Limit States  vp(z),SLS 159.9km/h 142.1km/h 154.7km/h 142.1km/h
Peak wind velocity for Ultimate Limit States  vp(z),ULS 195.8km/h 174.1km/h 189.4km/h 174.1km/h
* The orography factor is calculated for a well individualized obstacle (an emergent zone compared to a general ground without marked relief) According to EN 1991-1-4 §4.3.3(1), the calculated orography factor (1.018) is not taken into account because it does not increase wind velocities by more than 5%%.