FTAO Shearwall Design (Wood, Residential/Light Commercial) 1

[medeek]

I am wondering how often you find yourself needing to specify force transfer around opening type of shearwall vs. the more standard segmented shearwall.

I am looking for a spreadsheet or program than anyone has found useful in the rational analysis using the Diekmann technique. Based on APA findings published in m410 (APA website, free download) this method seems to be the best method currently available for estimating detailing requirements for bracing around the openings.

If I cannot find a suitable program/spreadsheet I will probably write one and make it available to all who are interested.

 

[manstrom]

I am re-reading this thread. Very good stuff. I spend a lot of time on FTAO research because it is very complicated and the research is not there yet.

A few notes from my experience.

*A FEM based approach is complicated and does not take into account all of the variables (studs, blocking, splice location, lapping sheathing etc)

*A statics based approach works in very limited conditions - single opening. Single story. Etc. In reality, we have multiple floors and multiple openings. The FTAO frames are interconnected, it is just not very possible to take this into consideration. Diekman method is great, but you may be overestimating by 50%, which is ok.

*Plenty of wood structures were built without any FTAO straps and they aren't falling down left and right.

*Windows are getting bigger and wood structures are getting taller. So the previous statement may fall apart.

*I would love to see a more empirical, research based approach to the design a la perforated method, but there are a lot of variables to test.



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