Sponsored by the Virginia Tech Continuing and Professional Education program, a three-day program on light-frame and mass timber construction design topics will be offered on May 14–16, 2024 in Blacksburg, VA. Joining me as instructors this year are Scott D. Coffman, PE, John Holland, MBA, John “Buddy” Showalter, PE, and Scott Miller, PE. Together, we will address twelve topics, most of which relate to light-frame design with an emphasis on wood trusses and walls, including the following.
Artificial Intelligence Potential and Challenges for Wood Truss Design and Manufacturing
This unit will focus on demystifying some of the magic around the process of artificial intelligence (AI). Participants will leave with a practical understanding of how machines can “learn” and of the exciting potential of this technology in the wood truss industry. Participants will be led through industry-specific machine learning optimization examples that will illustrate some of these possibilities as well as current limitations of AI today.
IBC 2021 Code Conforming Wood Design
Based on the publication Code Conforming Wood Design, this unit will address design of wood structures for fire resistance and height and area allowances for different types of wood construction. Reference will be to the 2021 International Building Code (IBC).
Design of Load-Bearing Tall Wood Studs for Wind and Gravity Loads
Proper design of wood structures to resist high wind loads requires the correct use of wind load provisions and member design properties. A loadbearing stud wall design example based on the allowable stress design methods outlined in AWC’s 2018 National Design Specification® (NDS®) for Wood Construction and 2018 Wood Frame Construction Manual (WFCM) along with ASCE 7-16 Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures will demonstrate standard design checks for limit states of strength and deflection.
Interpreting Truss Design Drawings, Design Assumptions, Members Forces, and Truss Repair
Whether you are an engineer designing a complete building that utilizes trusses or designing a retrofit of an existing structure with trusses or designing a repair due to damage to a truss, it is critical to understand the design parameters on a truss design drawing. In this unit, the design data given on a truss design drawing that includes the truss geometry, loading and spacing, lumber sizes and grades, plated connections, and design assumptions used for the truss analyses will be presented and discussed in the context of the ANSI/TPI 1 truss design standard and the truss design software used.
Wood Connector Testing, Load Rating, and Hanger Performance as affected by Nail Type
Building or component engineers tend to rely on the printed or digital catalogs of structural hardware suppliers for the values of the connections they specify. In this session, the basis of the tabulated and code-approved design values will be reviewed. Specifically, the instructor will explain how the connector engineers use Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to evaluate new connections to speed up the development process. Finally, the different nail types affecting the performance of the connections will be presented.
Truss King Post Failure Analyses
Methods of analysis and conclusions reached for a metal-plate-connected wood scissor truss failure are often inaccurate or erroneous for trusses that have had a history of satisfactory service. An approach for field assessment, analysis, and evaluation of a king post web and plate connection as a potential cause of failure will be presented.
Covered and Multi-Story Deck Design
Prescriptive information from the 2021 International Residential Code (IRC) will be used to begin the process of sizing the framing components or to assess the structural adequacy of an installed element for a covered and/or multi-story residential deck.
Mass Timber Buildings and the IBC
The 2021 and 2024 International Building Code (IBC) allows for the construction of tall mass timber buildings with larger heights and areas than previously permitted in Types III, IV, and V construction. Mass timber includes any product currently permitted for use in Type IV (heavy timber) construction such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), structural composite lumber (SCL), glued laminated timber (glulam), mechanically laminated decking (aka nail-laminated timber, NLT), and large section sawn timbers. Research and development conducted in support of new tall mass timber construction Types IV-A, IV-B, and IV-C in the 2021/2024 IBC will be presented.
Demystifying Loads for Building Code Officials
As the 2024 IBC Chapter 16 references ASCE 7-22, the purpose of this unit is to understand changes to structural loads encountered during the plan review process. Loads per the 2024 International Building Code (IBC) and the IBC-referenced 2022 ASCE/SEI 7 Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures (ASCE 7-22) will be discussed.
Lumber Design Values for Species/Specie Groups/Multi-Species and Specifications
Due to additional grade-marked products entering the U.S. from other countries over the past 20 years, it is important for users of lumber products to be aware of subtle differences in design values that can impact structural designs and expected performance of members and connections in-service. In the advent of new grade-marked products from Europe, a simple layperson’s description may no longer clearly communicate to other parties what lumber products and associated design values were used by the RDP, required, and specified in the construction documents.
The additional two sessions are Professional Engineering Ethical Standards as a Roadmap for Living and Balcony and Deck Design Considerations.
Please consider joining us! The course is being held at The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center, located at 901 Prices Fork Road in Blacksburg, VA. Contact me at (540) 951-0469 if you would like more specific information on the course content.
Frank Woeste, P.E., is Professor Emeritus, Virginia Tech and a wood construction consultant. Frank, along with his colleagues, has developed and presented continuing education programs for more than 30 years. He is a member of the Virginia Building and Code Officials Association, AWC Wood Standards Design Committee, and serves as the ALSC Consumer Representative (Alternate). Comments are welcome and can be sent to fwoeste@vt.edu.