ASCE 7 Maps 2

[craig5]

I'm a new engineer and just started my first job

I have been asked to design shearwalls for single family houses and use ASCE to obtain loads. I design in a few states and obtaining wind speeds via ASCE7-05 maps is tedious (blury and small) each time I need to determine the wind speed in a certain location.

There has got to be a better way to get this information. Anyone know if there is software to get the wind speeds based off of ASCE7-05?

 

[JStephen]

There was a post a while back with a calculator, but it wasn't exactly a finished product. It was also zip-code based, which has some limitations.

Something else to watch for is that some of the wind speeds are defined by local ordinance instead of the maps. For example, I remember seeing some rule in Texas that showed the Intracoastal Canal as the dividing line between two wind speeds. You'd never deduce that from the maps.

If you're using the maps a lot, get a good copier and you can blow each state up to 11x17 or so. You can even copy them onto tracing paper, then adjust the scale to fit over the state map in an atlas.

 

[mudflaps]

Just call the local building department where the site is. that works for snow loads too.

old CA SE

 

[ARLORD]

Here are good links for Wind & Seismic:

Wind:

http://www.windspeedbyzip.com/

Seismic:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/hazmaps/design/

 

[craig5]

Wow, I just posted the question and these responses are great! Thanks

Arlord,
Those links were very helpful.

 

[JStephen]

I'm not sure if that's the same link, but check the 85 mph areas of the map versus the wind calculator. That was one thing the calculator wasn't doing right, as it would show 90 mph in the 85 mph areas.