Lateral Load Resistance for Wood-frame Structures

 The overall strength of a building is a function of all of the components – roof, walls, floors, and foundation – working together as a unit. This session provides a top to bottom overview of lateral design for wood framed structures. Topics of discussion will include lessons learned from natural disasters, structural load-path continuity, and recent evolution in shearwall and uplift-resistant design.

Learning Objectives

 ·         Participants will understand the fundamental behavior of wood structures especially as it pertains to diaphragms, shear walls, and the connections therein. 

 ·         Participants will become acquainted with new technologies such as designing wood structural panel wall sheathing to resist simultaneous shear and uplift forces.

 ·         Participants will study common failure modes using photographs taken by the presenter during APA post-disaster evaluations, including 2011 events in Alabama and North Carolina. 

 ·         Participants will learn to identify the relationship between load-path discontinuity and structural  damage by viewing common failure modes. 

SPEAKER - MR. BRYAN READLING, P.E.

Bryan is a structural engineer, author and lecturer representing APA’s Field Services Division in Charlotte, NC.  Before joining APA in 1990, Bryan worked as a consulting structural engineer after completing a master’s degree at Clemson University where he measured wind tunnel forces on low-rise structures.  As a student of storm-resistant design and engineered wood systems; he is a member of the American Association for Wind Engineering and FEMA’s - Mitigation Assessment Team.