The American Wood Council’s (AWC) National Design Specification® (NDS®) for Wood Construction and Special Design Provisions for Wind and Seismic (SDPWS) are documents referenced in US building codes and used to design wood structures worldwide. Based on numerous help desk questions and feedback from design professionals, AWC has identified some of the most commonly overlooked wood connection engineering requirements from the NDS and SDPWS. These requirements will be discussed as well as resources and examples to meet these requirements. Examples include NDS Appendix E Local Stresses in Fastener Groups, NDS 3.4.3.3 shear design of members at connections, resources for power-driven fasteners such as ISANTA ESR 1539, and detailing requirements for high capacity shear walls and diaphragms.

Learning Objectives:

1. Be able to understand overlooked wood connection engineering issues
2. Obtain resources for complying with wood connection engineering issues
3. Identify and design for local stresses in fastener groups
4. Identify and detail high capacity shear walls and diaphragms

Funding provided in part by the Softwood Lumber Board.