Chord Members
Chord Members
(OP)
Whenever I design a building, I run my numbers, check the walls for wind and seismic, etc. During the diaphragm check, I calculate the global moment on the whole diaphragm and add chord members (reinforcing, angles, overlapping wood plates, etc.) just like the textbooks say.
My question is; Has anyone ever seen a failure due to lack of these chord members? It just seems counter-intuitive that a couple of #5 bars (or angles) at the bearing level in a building are going to do very much. I know the numbers require them and I'll continue to provide them, but they seem pretty cheesy.
My question is; Has anyone ever seen a failure due to lack of these chord members? It just seems counter-intuitive that a couple of #5 bars (or angles) at the bearing level in a building are going to do very much. I know the numbers require them and I'll continue to provide them, but they seem pretty cheesy.






RE: Chord Members
BA
RE: Chord Members
This got me thinking about diaphragm failures and how I'd never seen one in person or photos. So I head over to google and you can imagine my surprise upon searching for "diaphragm failures".
RE: Chord Members
RE: Chord Members
I didn't bother to look or Google "diaphragm failures," but I can just imagine. You've just got to bring sex and pregnancies into ever engineering discussion, don't you?
I'll bet those weren't the topics JedC had in mind with his OP.
RE: Chord Members
RE: Chord Members
RE: Chord Members
RE: Chord Members
Jed- I have made that mistake as well. I was trying to find the required embedment length- not quite what I had in mind.