Real Floor Loading

The following table summarises an extensive review of real floor loading studies undertaken by A E Peters (aep54@cam.ac.uk). Over 2.5 million square metres of floor area, area weighted average floor loading of 0.60kPa was found.

Table 1

All data

Mean (kN/m2)

Standard deviation (kN/m2)

Total Standard Deviation (kN/m2)

Total Area (m2)

Cumulative density at 2.5 kN/m2 (gamma distribution)

Cumulative density at 3 kN/m2 (gamma distribution)

Average value

0.58

0.43

0.44

 

0.93

0.96

Average area weighted

0.60

0.34

0.05

 

0.99

1.00

Total Area (m2)

2,500,694

The table below contains summary data from each of the studies that fed into Table 1. The references are provided in the zip file linked here.

Table 2

Description (see reference)

Reference

Mean (kN/m2)

Standard deviation (kN/m2)

Total Standard Deviation (kN/m2)

Total Area  (m2)

Number of Rooms

Cumulative density at 2.5 kN/m2 Gamma distribution

Cumulative density at 3 kN/m2 Gamma distribution

Basement

Woodgate and Mitchell [1]

1.03

1.24

1.24

198

180

0.60

0.70

Basement

0.90

0.99

0.99

452

323

0.70

0.80

Basement

0.89

0.93

0.93

1538

641

0.73

0.83

Basement

0.93

0.84

0.84

5710

1098

0.76

0.86

Basement

0.90

0.70

0.70

18148

1396

0.84

0.93

Basement

0.84

0.60

0.60

27269

874

0.91

0.97

Basement

0.85

0.58

0.58

21344

368

0.92

0.97

Basement

0.74

0.46

0.46

10119

91

0.98

1.00

Basement

0.75

0.43

0.43

14415

75

0.99

1.00

Ground

0.64

0.83

0.83

416

378

0.82

0.88

Ground

0.70

0.87

0.87

897

641

0.79

0.87

Ground

0.68

0.71

0.71

2995

1248

0.87

0.93

Ground

0.68

0.64

0.64

11185

2151

0.90

0.95

Ground

0.67

0.55

0.55

45773

3521

0.95

0.98

Ground

0.67

0.50

0.50

60590

1942

0.97

0.99

Ground

0.65

0.44

0.44

48372

834

0.99

1.00

Ground

0.64

0.34

0.34

22462

202

1.00

1.00

Ground

0.62

0.36

0.36

27869

145

1.00

1.00

All Other

0.70

0.89

0.89

3507

3188

0.78

0.86

All Other

0.70

0.77

0.77

6580

4700

0.84

0.91

All Other

0.66

0.65

0.65

21216

8840

0.90

0.95

All Other

0.64

0.53

0.53

74308

14290

0.96

0.99

All Other

0.62

0.46

0.46

265746

20442

0.98

0.99

All Other

0.61

0.35

0.35

445630

14283

1.00

1.00

All Other

0.59

0.30

0.30

377638

6511

1.00

1.00

All Other

0.58

0.26

0.26

209612

1885

1.00

1.00

All Other

0.57

0.22

0.22

221414

1152

1.00

1.00

Office

Acheng [2]

0.36

0.14

0.17

15

 

1.00

1.00

Office

0.32

0.10

0.12

20

 

1.00

1.00

Office

0.28

0.14

0.16

20

 

1.00

1.00

Circulation

0.24

0.27

0.28

20

 

1.00

1.00

Ground floor

0.37

0.25

0.27

20

 

1.00

1.00

First and above

0.35

0.17

0.19

20

1.00

1.00

Clerical

Andam [3]

0.44

0.27

0.27

711

 

1.00

1.00

Clerical

0.33

0.18

0.18

7846

 

1.00

1.00

Clerical

0.29

0.19

0.19

11630

 

1.00

1.00

Clerical

0.41

0.18

0.18

819

 

1.00

1.00

Clerical

0.43

0.10

0.10

362

 

1.00

1.00

General

0.34

0.36

0.36

235

 

1.00

1.00

General

0.36

0.45

0.45

1082

 

0.98

0.99

General

0.22

0.11

0.11

409

 

1.00

1.00

Conference

0.28

0.21

0.21

134

 

1.00

1.00

Conference

0.24

0.11

0.11

754

 

1.00

1.00

Conference

0.31

0.05

0.05

174

 

1.00

1.00

Dealing room

Fitzpatrick [4]

0.85

 

0.00

34

 

 

 

Financial advisors office

0.36

 

0.00

33

 

 

 

Office

0.52

 

0.00

38

 

 

 

Offices

CIB [5]

0.52

0.28

0.28

353400

 

1.00

1.00

Offices

1.71

0.68

0.68

 

 

0.55

0.80

Offices

Choi [6]

0.52

0.13

0.13

171295

 

1.00

1.00

Technical

Kumar [7]

0.55

0.25

0.25

273

21

1.00

1.00

Clerical

0.55

0.17

0.17

2554

84

1.00

1.00

General

0.41

0.21

0.21

2808

108

1.00

1.00

Seminar

0.49

0.16

0.16

575

8

1.00

1.00

 

Culver [8]

0.78

0.78

0.78

96

41

0.81

0.90

 

0.63

0.60

0.60

1316

188

0.92

0.97

 

0.44

0.31

0.31

16721

899

1.00

1.00

 

0.42

0.43

0.43

6305

226

0.98

1.00

The eight references above are available to download in the zip files linked here.