Innovating from the Ground Up: Welcome to the Future! Caleb Knudson At Simpson Strong-Tie, Risk-Taking Innovation is central to our mission of helping people design and build safer, stronger structures. We’ve devoted a tremendous amount of effort and resources to thoughtfully cultivating a culture of innovation. And as Engineers, we’ve been armed... Read More May 2024 Issue #16298 Page 114
Developing High-Capacity Tension Straps for Mass Timber Engineering Paul McEntee Mass timber buildings use cross-laminated timber (CLT) or mass plywood panels to create horizontal diaphragms to transfer wind and seismic forces into the vertical elements of the lateral-force-resisting system. Spline connections resist shear forces at the panel joints, which I discussed in... Read More January 2024 Issue #16294 Page 100
Top Five Most Downloaded Engineering Letters Simpson Strong-Tie Staff Prior to joining Simpson Strong-Tie, I spent 13 years working as consulting structural engineer. As a specifier, I was amazed at the number of resources Simpson made available to me. From software, to blogs, to design guides, there were many resources to help me solve problems and streamline the... Read More October 2023 Issue #15291 Page 114
The H1A Hurricane Tie – An Update for a Classic Paul McEntee Simpson Strong-Tie recently released an updated model of our H1 – now the H1A. As a consulting engineer, I remember how much I disliked updating my standard details when products were discontinued. I thought it would be informative to explain the modifications and some of the reasons for... Read More July 2023 Issue #15288 Page 108
Contributing to a New Youth Scout Den in New Zealand Simpson Strong-Tie Staff Our Simpson Strong-Tie New Zealand branch was established in 2010 and helps provide Simpson Strong-Tie products to our friends in New Zealand. Recently, the branch had the opportunity to help a local scouts club build a new den to accommodate their growing club. [For all photos, See PDF or... Read More June 2023 Issue #15287 Page 102
Mass Timber Diaphragm Options with Four Different Connection Types — How Our LDSS48 Light Diaphragm Spline Strap Evolved Paul McEntee Floors and roofs on mass timber buildings are constructed from large panels of engineered wood, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) or mass plywood. Designers join these prefabricated panels together on site to create a structural horizontal diaphragm to transfer wind and seismic loads to the... Read More May 2023 Issue #15286 Page 96
How to Accommodate Misplaced Shearwall Anchorage Simpson Strong-Tie Staff For several years, the Simpson Strong-Tie Strong-Wall® research and development team has kicked around the idea of developing an “adapter” that would allow for field substitutions or accommodate misplaced Strong-Wall anchorage. The Strong-Wall WSWH high-strength wood shearwall... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 108
Top Structural and Wood-Related Changes in the 2021 IRC, Part 2 Randy Daudet In the last article, we described the primary structural and wood-related changes in the 2021 International Residential Code, Chapters 3 and 4. This article will continue with the primary changes to Chapters 5 through 8 of the IRC. Decks For the 2018 and the 2021 IRC, an informal group... Read More February 2023 Issue #15283 Page 114
Mechanical Anchors: Screw vs. Expansion: Which is Right for Me? Simpson Strong-Tie Staff Not all post-installed mechanical anchors are created equal. There are key differences between screw and expansion anchor types — differences that include how they gain their holding strength, installation requirements, and overall anchor performance. In the following article, field... Read More December 2022 Issue #14281 Page 124
Hurricane Andrew — a 30-Year-Old Learning Experience Randy Shackelford This August marked the 30th anniversary of the Florida landfall of Hurricane Andrew, one of the most damaging, and influential, hurricanes ever to hit the United States. Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida with Category 5 winds early on the morning of August 24, 1992. Andrew caused damages of $25... Read More October 2022 Issue #14279 Page 122