Welcome to Shearwalls

WoodWorks® Shearwalls is a software application intended for structural engineers performing lateral wind and seismic design of wood structures that are six or fewer storeys in height.

Shearwalls' interactive graphical interface allows you to quickly specify building blocks, walls, openings, roofs, hold-down connectors, loads, and forces.

Shearwalls has automatic routines for

• exterior and upper story wall creation,
• joining of building blocks
• shear line generation
• floor area and building mass calculations
• roof layout
• wind and seismic load generation
• rigid and flexible diaphragm load distribution to shear lines
• distribution of forces within a shear line to wall segments
• deflection analysis and story drift
• equalization of deflections on a shear line
• hold-down and compression forces at segment ends
• hold-down design and design for compression forces
• shear wall design
• determining worst-case wind/seismic and worst-case rigid/flexible diaphragm designs
• grouping of walls with the same design
• drag strut force calculations

Shearwalls presents its design results in a sequence of organized and easy-to-read tables, and as shear wall diagrams in Elevation view.

Please refer to the resources described in Help Documentation for operating instructions and program capabilities and limitations. Other resources are described in Technical Support and Training.

Shearwalls Versions and Design Codes and Standards

The most recent version, Shearwalls 2020, Update 4, implements design provisions from the CSA O86-19 National Standard, including Update No.1 (March 2020). Load generation procedures and some design provisions are from the 2015 National Building Code of Canada (NBC) and its Structural Commentaries.

The O86-19 is referenced from NBC 2020, which will be implemented in a future program update. It is permissible to use the more recent O86 with the earlier NBC.

A program setting allows you to instead use the CSA O86-14 along with either the 2015 or 2010 editions of the NBC, or the CSA O86-09 with NBC 2010.

Unless otherwise indicated, references in this On-line Help are to CSA O86-19 and NBC 2015.

Refer to Shearwalls 2020 for descriptions of new features and improvements implemented for the most recent major version and Update 4 for the changes introduced with the most recent update.

WoodWorks should not be used or relied upon for any general or specific application without competent professional examination and verification of its accuracy, suitability and applicability by a licensed professional engineer, designer, or architect.

Every effort has been made to ensure the information and procedures in the program are as complete and as accurate as possible. The Canadian Wood Council, the American Wood Council, and Acronym Software Inc., do not, however, assume any responsibility for errors or omissions in the software nor for engineering designs or plans prepared from it.