Writers of standards—both for general structural design and, in particular, structural steel design—rolled out their 2010 versions this month, completed in time to be referenced in the upcoming 2012 edition of the model “International Building Code.” An overriding goal, say the engineers responsible for the revisions, is to make the standards simpler to understand and use.
The major editorial change to ASCE/SEI 7-10 “Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures” from the 2005 standard is a “complete” reorganization into a multiple-chapter format—first introduced for seismic loads in 2005. The objective is to make the provisions “easier to follow,” said Ronald A. Cook, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and chairman of the subcommittee on wind loads for the standard, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers and its Structural Engineering Institute, Reston, Va.