The eighth edition is a leading resource, thoroughly revised with the latest codes and data, guiding users through wood structure design.
This comprehensive text follows the actual design/construction sequence, featuring detailed equations, clear illustrations, and practical examples for enhanced understanding.
It’s fully updated to cover current techniques and standards, conforming to the 2018 IBC and 2018 NDS for reliable, modern applications.
Overview of the Book
This eighth edition of Design of Wood Structures – ASD/LRFD serves as a comprehensive guide for professionals and students involved in the design and construction of wood structures. The book meticulously details the entire design process, mirroring the practical sequence encountered in real-world projects. It’s structured to facilitate a clear understanding of wood building design criteria, encompassing everything from initial load assessments to the final structural detailing.
Readers will find a wealth of information, including detailed equations, illustrative diagrams, and practical design examples that solidify theoretical concepts. The book doesn’t merely present formulas; it explains the underlying principles and their application. It covers wood buildings and design, offering a holistic approach to the subject matter. This edition is particularly valuable due to its alignment with the most current industry standards, specifically the 2018 International Building Code (IBC) and the 2018 National Design Specification for Wood Construction (NDS), ensuring its relevance and reliability.
Authors: Donald E. Breyer and Kelly Cobeen
Donald E. Breyer and Kelly Cobeen bring a wealth of expertise to Design of Wood Structures – ASD/LRFD, Eighth Edition. Their combined experience ensures a practical and insightful approach to wood structure design, reflecting current industry practices and the latest code requirements. The authors have meticulously updated this edition to incorporate the significant changes introduced by the 2018 International Building Code (IBC) and the 2018 National Design Specification for Wood Construction (NDS).
Their commitment to clarity and thoroughness is evident throughout the book, making complex concepts accessible to both students and practicing engineers. They present detailed equations, clear illustrations, and real-world examples, fostering a deeper understanding of the subject matter. This collaborative effort results in a resource that is not only technically accurate but also highly effective for learning and application in the field of wood design and construction.
Target Audience
Design of Wood Structures – ASD/LRFD, Eighth Edition, is meticulously crafted for a diverse audience within the structural engineering and construction fields. Primarily, it serves as an ideal textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses focusing on wood design. The book’s comprehensive coverage and practical examples make it suitable for students seeking a strong foundation in both Allowable Stress Design (ASD) and Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) methodologies.
Furthermore, this resource is invaluable for practicing structural engineers who require a reliable reference for designing wood structures in accordance with the latest 2018 IBC and 2018 NDS standards. Architects and construction professionals involved in wood-frame building projects will also benefit from its detailed guidance and clear explanations, ensuring safe and efficient designs;

Key Updates and Code Compliance
This edition incorporates the latest industry standards, fully updated to align with both the 2018 International Building Code (IBC) and NDS.
2018 International Building Code (IBC)
The 2018 IBC serves as a foundational element for safe and reliable wood structure design, and this edition meticulously integrates its requirements throughout the text.
This comprehensive resource ensures all design procedures and calculations adhere to the latest IBC provisions, covering aspects like fire resistance, structural stability, and means of egress.
Detailed explanations and practical examples demonstrate how to apply IBC regulations to various wood construction scenarios, offering clarity and confidence in design decisions.
The integration of the 2018 IBC isn’t merely about compliance; it’s about fostering a deep understanding of the underlying principles that ensure building safety and performance.
Readers will gain proficiency in navigating the IBC, interpreting its clauses, and implementing them effectively in their wood design projects, leading to structurally sound and code-compliant buildings.

This commitment to the 2018 IBC makes this edition an indispensable tool for architects, engineers, and construction professionals.
2018 National Design Specification for Wood Construction (NDS)
The 2018 NDS is central to the accurate and efficient design of wood structures, and this edition provides a thorough and up-to-date treatment of its provisions.

This resource meticulously incorporates the NDS’s design values, adjustment factors, and connection criteria, enabling precise calculations for bending, shear, compression, and tension;
Detailed examples illustrate the application of NDS equations and methodologies to real-world wood design problems, enhancing practical understanding and skill development.
Beyond simply presenting the NDS requirements, this edition explains the rationale behind them, fostering a deeper comprehension of wood behavior and design principles.
Readers will become proficient in utilizing the NDS to optimize wood member sizes, ensure structural integrity, and meet project-specific performance objectives.
This dedication to the 2018 NDS ensures designs are both safe and economical, making it a vital resource for professionals.

Fundamental Design Concepts
This edition details both Allowable Stress Design (ASD) and Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) approaches, crucial for modern wood structure analysis.
Understanding these concepts is vital for safe, efficient, and code-compliant wood building designs and applications.
Allowable Stress Design (ASD)
Allowable Stress Design (ASD), a traditional method, remains a cornerstone in wood structural design, focusing on maintaining stresses within established allowable limits.
This approach involves calculating stresses resulting from applied loads and comparing them to allowable stress values specified for the wood species and grade.
The eighth edition thoroughly explains ASD principles, detailing how to determine allowable bending stress, shear stress, and compression stress, considering factors like duration of load and size effects.
It emphasizes the importance of safety factors, which are applied to material strengths to account for uncertainties in loading, material properties, and construction practices.
The text provides clear guidance on applying ASD to various wood elements, including beams, columns, and connections, ensuring a safe and reliable design process.
Readers will gain a comprehensive understanding of ASD’s strengths and limitations, enabling them to make informed decisions in their wood structure projects.
Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD)
Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) represents a more modern and probabilistic approach to wood structural design, gaining prominence in current engineering practice.
Unlike ASD, LRFD considers both load uncertainties and material resistance variations through the application of load factors and resistance factors, respectively.
The eighth edition provides a detailed exploration of LRFD methodology, explaining how to apply appropriate load combinations and calculate design strengths for wood members.
It clarifies the use of resistance factors for different limit states, such as bending, shear, and compression, ensuring a consistent level of safety across all design scenarios.
The text offers practical examples demonstrating LRFD applications to beams, columns, and connections, facilitating a smooth transition for designers familiar with ASD.
Readers will develop a strong grasp of LRFD’s advantages, including its improved reliability and efficiency in optimizing wood structure designs.

Design Loads for Wood Structures
This edition comprehensively covers essential design loads – dead, live, wind, and seismic – crucial for safe and reliable wood structure engineering.
Understanding these loads and their proper application is fundamental to accurate structural analysis and design calculations.
Dead Loads
Dead loads represent the weight of all permanent, stationary components integrated within the wood structure itself; This encompasses the weight of the structural members – beams, columns, and decking – alongside non-structural elements like roofing materials, flooring finishes, cladding, and permanently installed mechanical and electrical systems.
Accurate determination of dead loads is paramount, as they constitute a significant portion of the total load a wood structure must bear. The eighth edition provides detailed guidance on calculating these weights, referencing standard material densities and offering practical methods for estimating the weight of various building components.

Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of considering the self-weight of the wood materials themselves, accounting for species and moisture content variations. Precise dead load calculations are essential for ensuring structural integrity and preventing over- or under-design, ultimately contributing to a safe and efficient building.
Live Loads
Live loads encompass the weight of temporary or movable objects within a wood structure, including occupants, furniture, equipment, and stored materials. Unlike dead loads, live loads are variable in magnitude and distribution, requiring careful consideration in the design process.
The eighth edition meticulously details the determination of appropriate live loads based on the intended occupancy and use of the space. It references established building codes and standards, providing guidance on minimum uniformly distributed live loads and concentrated loads for various applications.
Understanding load factors and reduction factors associated with live loads is crucial for ensuring a safe and reliable design. The text emphasizes the importance of considering impact and dynamic effects, particularly for structures subjected to repetitive loading or sudden applications of force, ultimately leading to robust structural performance.
Wind Loads
Wind loads represent the forces exerted on a wood structure by wind pressure, a critical consideration, especially in regions prone to high winds or severe weather events. The eighth edition provides a comprehensive approach to calculating wind loads, adhering to the latest industry standards and building codes.
This involves determining wind speeds based on geographic location, exposure category, and building height, then translating these speeds into wind pressures acting on the structure’s surfaces. The text details methods for accounting for various factors, including gust effects, topographic effects, and the shape of the building.
Properly addressing wind loads is essential for preventing structural failure and ensuring the safety of occupants. The resource emphasizes the importance of considering both positive and negative pressures, and their impact on different structural components.
Seismic Loads
Seismic loads, forces generated by earthquake ground motion, are a crucial design consideration for wood structures in seismically active regions. The eighth edition offers detailed guidance on assessing and mitigating these forces, ensuring structural integrity during seismic events.
The text covers methods for determining seismic design categories based on site-specific seismic hazard data, including ground acceleration values and soil conditions. It explains how to calculate base shear, the total horizontal force acting on the structure, and distribute it to various structural elements;
Emphasis is placed on detailing connections and diaphragms to resist seismic forces effectively. The resource highlights the importance of ductile detailing to allow for energy dissipation and prevent brittle failures, safeguarding lives and property.

Wood Material Properties
This edition details species and grades of wood, alongside their crucial mechanical properties, essential for accurate structural analysis and safe design practices.
Species and Grades of Wood
Understanding wood’s variability is paramount in structural design, and this text comprehensively covers numerous wood species commonly utilized in construction. It delves into the inherent differences in strength, stiffness, and durability between species like Douglas Fir-Larch, Southern Pine, and Spruce-Pine-Fir, providing crucial data for material selection.
Furthermore, the eighth edition meticulously outlines wood grading rules established by organizations like the National Lumber Grades Authority (NLGA). These grades – Select Structural, No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 – directly impact allowable stresses and design capacities. The book explains how visual grading assesses defects like knots, slope of grain, and wane, influencing a piece of lumber’s assigned grade.
Detailed tables present characteristic properties for various species and grades, enabling engineers to accurately determine design values. Proper species and grade selection is vital for ensuring structural integrity and complying with building codes, and this resource provides the necessary information for informed decisions.
Mechanical Properties of Wood
Wood exhibits anisotropic behavior, meaning its properties vary depending on the direction of applied force. This edition thoroughly examines key mechanical properties crucial for structural design, including modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, compression parallel to grain, and shear strength.
The text details how these properties are determined through standardized testing procedures and presents statistically derived design values for various species and grades. Moisture content significantly influences wood’s strength; therefore, adjustment factors are provided to account for service conditions.
Furthermore, the book explores properties like tension parallel to grain, compression perpendicular to grain, and shear parallel to grain, offering a complete understanding of wood’s mechanical response. Accurate application of these properties, alongside appropriate safety factors, is essential for creating safe and reliable wood structures.

Structural Elements Design
This section details the design of fundamental wood elements – beams, columns, and connections – utilizing both ASD and LRFD methodologies.
Practical examples and detailed procedures ensure a comprehensive understanding of structural wood design principles.
Beam Design
Beam design constitutes a critical component of wood structure engineering, and this edition provides exhaustive coverage of flexural and shear analysis. It meticulously details procedures for determining appropriate beam sizes, considering both allowable stress design (ASD) and load and resistance factor design (LRFD) approaches.
The text explores various loading scenarios, including uniformly distributed loads, concentrated loads, and moment gradients, offering practical guidance on calculating bending moments and shear forces. Detailed examples illustrate the application of relevant design equations and code provisions, ensuring a clear understanding of the design process.
Furthermore, the edition addresses deflection criteria, lateral torsional buckling, and the selection of appropriate wood species and grades to optimize beam performance. Emphasis is placed on understanding the behavior of structures and applying the 2018 NDS provisions for safe and efficient beam design, covering both solid sawn lumber and engineered wood products.
Column Design
Column design, a fundamental aspect of wood structure stability, receives comprehensive treatment within this edition. It details procedures for analyzing columns subjected to axial loads, bending moments, and combined loading conditions, utilizing both ASD and LRFD methodologies.
The text thoroughly examines effective length factors, bracing configurations, and slenderness ratios, crucial for determining column buckling resistance. Practical examples demonstrate the application of design equations derived from the 2018 NDS, ensuring accurate and code-compliant designs.
Furthermore, the edition addresses the design of columns with eccentric loads, biaxial bending, and the selection of appropriate wood species and grades to maximize load-carrying capacity. Special attention is given to understanding the behavior of structures and applying relevant provisions for both solid sawn lumber and engineered wood column systems.
Connection Design
Connection design is critical for transferring loads between wood structural members, and this edition provides extensive coverage of various connection types. It details the design of nailed, bolted, screwed, and adhesive-connected joints, adhering to the latest NDS provisions and industry best practices.
The text explores shear and tension resistance calculations, bearing capacity checks, and withdrawal resistance considerations for each connection method. Detailed examples illustrate the application of design values and adjustment factors, ensuring safe and reliable connections.
Furthermore, the edition addresses the design of complex connections, including those subjected to combined shear and tension, and provides guidance on selecting appropriate fastener sizes and spacing. Special attention is given to connection detailing to prevent splitting and ensure long-term performance, vital for overall structural integrity.
