Yekutieli, O., Department of Controlled Agriculture and Environmental Engineering, A.R.O., Volcani Center, P.O.B. 6, Bet - Dagan, Israel
Dubinski, L., Department of Controlled Agriculture and Environmental Engineering, A.R.O., Volcani Center, P.O.B. 6, Bet - Dagan, Israel
Kleinmann, I., Department of Controlled Agriculture and Environmental Engineering, A.R.O., Volcani Center, P.O.B. 6, Bet - Dagan, Israel
Felsenstein, G., Department of Controlled Agriculture and Environmental Engineering, A.R.O., Volcani Center, P.O.B. 6, Bet - Dagan, Israel

Frequently, during the winter season, many Israeli greenhouses are subject to damage by strong wind loads. Plastic covers are torn and sometimes, in extreme cases, whole frames of greenhouses - collapse. Many factors are involved in this problem: the shape of the greenhouse, the strength of the frame, the plastic cover, the type of connection to the ground, etc. In order to calculate the loads acting on the film cover and the arches of a walk-in tunnel during a high wind, the subject has been investigated and analyzed in three ways: (i) a finite element (FE) model was created using the ANSYS computer program, (ii) theoretical calculations, (iii) tests carried out on a small scale test specimen. Several cases were examined and a good correlation between the FE models and the test results has been obtained.