Hazard Tool Asce 7

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TheUSGS collaborates with organizations that develop building codes (for buildings, bridges, and other structures) to make seismic design parameter values available to engineers. The design code developers first decide how USGS earthquake hazard information should be applied in design practice. Then, the USGS calculates values of seismic design parameters based on USGS hazard values and in accordance with design code procedures.

Due to insufficient resources and the recent development of similar web tools by third parties, the USGS has replaced its former U.S. Seismic Design Maps web applications with web services that can be used through third-party tools. Your options for using the replacement USGS web services,which still provide seismic design paramter values from numerous design code editions, are:

Web-based mapping tool offering a fast, reliable way to look up key design parameters specified in Standard ASCE 7-10, 7-16, or 7-22 for a specific address or location which is free to use and can look up data for eight different environmental hazard types: wind, tornado, seismic, ice, rain, flood, snow, and tsunami.

Blue Raster and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) are pleased to announce the launch of the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool, to accompany the just-released 2016 edition of the internationally recognized loading standard ASCE 7, Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures (ASCE/SEI 7-16). This tool is designed to provide users with environmental loading limit information for infrastructure based on location and risk category. For example, how much ice thickness must a school be able to safely carry in Minnesota? To what level of tsunami inundation will a hospital need to be elevated in California? To find out, the new ASCE 7 Hazard Tool provides a single destination for quickly retrieving your choice of hazard data, including:

The fully functional site will be available to paid subscribers only (following the initial Beta period), however, wind and tsunami data will be available to all to show site functionality and utility. Make the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool the first stop for new infrastructure construction in America, and help keep us safe from environmental hazards.

In an attempt to help educate building officials across the US, SEI proposes a Hazard Tool Webinar that includes a general briefing on the purpose and uses of the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool with updated ASCE 7-22 data and an additional overview that ties in seismic and flood hazards. The goal is to promote the tool to this important segment of professionals who work closely with structural engineers.

The ASCE 7 Hazard Tool is a web-based application that is easy to navigate and provides a quick way to look up eight environmental hazards for a specific location including wind, tornado, rain, flood, snow, ice, seismic, and tsunami. Generate a summary and PDF report of the data that can be used in engineering proposals. The Hazard Tool includes data from the new Standard ASCE 7-22 and is free to the public.

This online course is worth .1 CEUs/1 PDH. To receive your certificate of completion, you will need to complete a short on-line post-test and receive a passing score of 70% or higher within 60 days of the course.

The tools found below provide seismic hazard values for various applications, standards, and the editions of the National Building Code. It is the responsibility of the designer to determine which seismic hazard tool is applicable.

This tool is designed to provide users with environmental loading limit information for infrastructure based on location and risk category. For example, how much ice thickness must a school be able to safely carry in Minnesota? To what level of tsunami inundation will a hospital need to be elevated in California? To find out, the new ASCE 7 Hazard Tool provides a single destination for quickly retrieving your choice of hazard data, including: basic wind speed, seismic accelerations, flood zone and base flood, elevation, ground snow load, rain load, tsunami-load risk, and ice thickness.

This webinar will cover the development and background of the forthcoming changes to ASCE 7-22. In this update, a new hazard tool will be available through ASCE making it easier to determine design ground snow loads; however, the basis for these changes may not be well known. The new loads are called reliability-targeted loads and provide a more uniform safety throughout the conterminous United States while at the same time nearly eliminating case study regions. By gathering data from throughout the country and performing site-specific reliability analyses at every measurement location, these loads use the best available information. The basis for the loads and use of the new tool will be discussed along with the subsequent changes to ASCE 7-22 Chapter 7.

The ASCE/SEI 7-22 standard is different from previous versions of ASCE 7 because the environmental hazard data is now provided in a digital format. As research and scientific methodologies improve, the ability to develop more detailed and refined environmental source data has increased dramatically. The ability for printed maps to depict every scenario is impossible. Therefore, while representative maps are included in the publication, ASCE/SEI 7-22 relies on digital data for all environmental hazards except wind and ice and the data is easily accessed through the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool or an approved equivalent source.

Another exciting change is that the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool is free to the user and open to the public beginning Dec. 1, 2021. The ASCE 7 Hazard Tool provides a quick, reliable way to access the digital data defined in the hazard geodatabases required by ASCE/SEI 7-22. The tool provides hazard data for all eight environmental hazards, including wind, tornado, seismic, ice, rain, flood, snow and tsunami. ASCE 7 Online, a digital product designed to support the new 2022 and previous 2016 editions, will also be updated and available in December 2021.

This quarterly article addresses some of the questions received about structural standards developed by the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Following are some questions received by SEI and responses to clarify the provisions. Questions from engineers, building officials, and other design professionals are often considered to develop future standard editions.

Q: I am researching historical document requirements, and on one of my projects, it referenced ANSI 58.1 for roof, wind, and snow loads. The ANSI document seems to have been replaced by the ASCE/SEI 7 standards book. Is this correct? If so, what year did that happen?

A: Yes, the final ANSI version of A58.1 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures was published in 1982 and was replaced in 1988 by ASCE 7 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures as ANSI/ASCE 7-88. ASCE, and then SEI, has been developing ASCE 7 ever since!

Q: My company has a design project in Hawaii. It involves exterior piping and supports that fall within the tsunami inundation zone. I am trying to identify the water depth at our design location. The ASCE Tsunami Design Geodatabase online tool indicates a Mean High Water (MHW) runup elevation, but no NAVD88, North American Vertical Datum of 1988, runup elevation. How can the MHW value be related to the NAVD88 datum, and why is this not included in the Geodatabase?

Q: Would you please direct me to the raw data used to develop the maps in ASCE 7-22 Chapter 22 shown in the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool? Is it still the same data used for ASCE 7-10 or ASCE 7-16?

A: The seismic values in the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool are from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Webservice and are included in ASCE 7-22 Chapter 22. They are available at using the 2020 NEHRP, National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, link. The USGS will be adding a link directly for ASCE 7-22 as well. Additionally, per the link provided in ASCE 7-22 (www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/hazards), the USGS has developed information to provide more background information on their process and the data. Furthermore, the USGS explains how the seismic hazard models are updated each cycle to develop the underlying data used in each cycle of ASCE 7. And no, the data for ASCE 7-10 is not the same as for ASCE 7-16 or ASCE 7-22.

Q: Which section of ASCE 7 should be used for the wind load on a stair landing connected to a raised building? If the landing is flushed with the floor of the elevated building, should it be designed as a canopy?

A: Elevated buildings are now covered in the ASCE/SEI 7-22 version of the Standard. Section 30.3.2.1 Bottom Horizontal Surface of Elevated Buildings is the best resource to determine the wind pressures on this stair landing.

Q: If an Essential Facility in a Tornado-Prone region is determined to have tornado speeds, VT, that do not require design for tornado loads per Section 32.5.2 in ASCE 7-22, do the glazed openings for that facility still need to be protected in accordance with 32.12.3?

Q: What is the requirement in ASCE 24-14 for fiber mesh reinforcement in concrete slabs in Coastal High Hazard Zones? The provisions appear to be a blanket prohibition on any type of reinforcement in these ground slabs. Would you please clarify where fiber mesh is permitted?

Extreme weather events are increasing in intensity and frequency. Explore resources to support hazard mitigation and hazard risk reduction for a variety of extreme weather events, including floods, earthquakes, wildfires, and more.

Extreme weather events are becoming increasingly more frequent and intense. The following resources can support hazard risk reduction development, design, and construction choices. These resources include risk analysis data and tools, hazard maps, and building design guidelines for new and existing buildings.

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