Calculating live load (see details)
I am designing an 85m2 pavilion for max 32 people. I have taken the average weight of a person as 0.7kN. Would the live load of the people be (32 x 0.7kN)/85m2 = 0.3kN/m2? This seems a very small value compared to the 1.5-2.5kN/m2 live loads which seem to be given on the internet. Is that because they incorporate safety factor? Also, I have 3 benches, each weighing 0.5kN, so would the live load of these be (3 x 0.5kN)/85m2 = 0.02kN/m2? Again, this seems a tiny value. Am I going wrong somewhere? Thanks
I am not a civil engineer, nor a professional engineer, so take it for what it is worth. When you say live load, I’m thinking dynamic vs static loading. The static load would be calculated as you described, however the dynamic loading is more of a variable. Imagine having a party on the pavilion and everyone starts jumping up & down dancing or something. The forces are then increased (f=ma) . Below is a link to a Wiki page. There are references to the applicable International Building Code and some catastrophic failures due to unforeseen or incorrectly calculated dynamic loading.
