Full-scale structural monitoring of a low-rise wood light-frame building subjected to wind actions was used to evaluate structural wind load transfer mechanisms through its superstructure and into the foundation. The building is equipped with forty wall and roof pressure taps and thirty-three roof and foundation load cells. The unique characteristic of the test building is that the only points of contact between the foundation and the superstructure are the twenty-seven foundation load cells, which ensures that all the interfacial force flow, along with its distribution, is monitored. Field data was compared to simulation results determined from scaled wind tunnel and finite element structural models. The wind tunnel simulation provided detailed information on wind-induced envelope dimensionless pressure coefficients for comparison with field observations. Agreement between full-scale and wind tunnel pressure coefficients is excellent for the mean component, but discrepancies exist for certain localized high peak negative pressures. However, field observations indicate that there are attenuation affects on peak wind-induced internal forces as they flow through the superstructure to the foundation which normal design level analysis, employing equivalent static pressure concepts, cannot capture. The findings of the research suggest that current Building Codes and Wind Standards compare well to full-scale load cell values but underestimate the estimated numerical results.
