In today’s post, I will quickly summarize what I learned from a recent webinar called “Common Challenges in Wood Lateral System Layout.” It was presented by Terry Malone, Senior Technical Director at WoodWorks, who has decades of experience designing structures. The webinar’s goal was to help us recognize things that we need to watch out […]
Another take on the good ol’ “embedded posts and poles”
In today’s post, I’ll talk about something I learned recently related to “embedded posts and poles.” Quick overview: “nonconstrained” & “constrained” What exactly is “rigid floor or pavement”? Another option for “chain-link fence” (Estimated reading time = 3 minutes and 10 seconds)
P-delta diverging error was literally crushing my soul
Good morning. Andy here from Back of the Envelope — the place to be for all your p-delta soul-crushing info. Just kidding. No but seriously. Over the weekend, as I was working on a RISA Floor/3d model for a looming deadline, I repeatedly ran into the dreaded “P-delta diverging” error. It drove me crazy. So today, I […]
Site Walls and Earthquake
This is the first article that I sent out on “Back of the Envelope” — where I teach you SE-related things in 5 minutes (or less), once a week. If after reading it and you kind of liked it, subscribe at the end of the post to be one of the first to get new […]
Three “Seismic Design Requirements” Flow Charts: The Quickest & Easiest Way To Learn The Design Values In “ASCE 7 Chapter 11 & 12”
While studying the ASCE 7 Chapter 11 & 12, do you frequently get lost in its”wall of text“? No problem, we are here to help! Ian has created and shared three very valuable flow charts (you can download them below). By following along while studying, you will gain a much better understanding of many of the seismic design requirements […]
13 Things You Need to Know About “Seismic Design Criteria” (ASCE 7 Chapter 11)
Since I’ve been practicing structural engineering in California, I’ve kind of taken my experience with seismic design for granted. Not only it’s something that we do nearly every single day, it’s also required in order to get the PE license (CA has an additional 4-hour seismic portion on top of the regular NCEES 8-hour exam for the PE […]