Input Dialogs

Important Note – These are descriptions to changes implemented in WoodWorks Shearwalls for version 9 and may not reflect current behavior.

1. Getting Started with Shearwalls

   This box has been updated to

   • better describe the sequence of program operations, for example creating openings for all levels before extending walls.
   • describe more fully the purpose of blocks as eventual roof shapes
   • better indicate how to perform key operations, such as the shift-key wall move and navigating within the design results output
   • add the Load Input, Design, and Design Results steps to complete the process
   • include information about hold-down connections and deflection analysis
2. Structure Dialog
   1. Status Bar Messages (Change 59)

      Status bar messages have been added to explain the use of each of the input fields in the box.

3. Wall Input View
   1. Default Sheathing Orientation

      The default sheathing orientation for standard walls has been changed from vertical to horizontal sheathing.

   2. Fastener and Stud Spacing Updates

      The system for updating fastener and stud spacings in the program did not always provide the correct choices according to design code rules. This was reviewed and several refinements were made, so that we are confident that the correct choice of fasteners appears. The changes in the user interface are mirrored in the choices that are available to the design engine. Some of the more evident changes are

      • Stud spacing : In many instances, 24 stud spacing was not available, when it should have been.
      • Update of Fasteners Size: The program no longer attempts to maintain a fastener size selection from a previously selected material if that fastener size is not one of the standard selections for the material. It retains the selection when going from Structural 1 to Structural Sheathing, and vice versa, but otherwise it restores the default selection, which is the first in the list.
   3. Both Sides Same for Sheathing Thickness and Orientation (Change 74)

      After checking the checkbox that indicates both exterior and interior surfaces have the same sheathing materials specification, and making changes to the sheathing thickness or orientation, the sheathing on the opposite side to the one you were editing before you checked the box was not being updated for the changed property. This results in walls that are supposed to have the same sheathing on either side not being treated as such in the design engine. If the sheathing also has unknowns, it is possible for the design engine not to design the interior side (Side 2), outputting question marks in place of materials specifications and zero design capacity.

4. Site Dialog - Seismic Force Resisting System
   1. Bearing Wall vs. Building Frame Input

      An input has been added to specify whether Building Frame or Bearing Wall systems are used to determine the value of the response modification factor R and the seismic amplification factor C_d from ASCE 7 Table 12.2-1.

   2. Default Value

      The default value for new files is Bearing Wall system.

   3. Previous Versions

      For projects from previous version, the program detects which system is in use via the value of R.

   4. Override

      It is possible to over-ride this choice via the R and C_d inputs, in particular to employ one system in one direction and the other in a perpendicular direction.

5. Settings
   1. Shear Distribution within Shearline

      In the Design Settings, the setting Design shear force based on wall rigidity has been renamed Distribute forces to wall segments based on rigidity.

   2. Default Floor Depth

      In the Default Settings, the setting Floor joist depth (in) has been renamed Floor depth (in), because the depth includes flooring materials as well as the joist depth.

   3. Default Wall Thickness

      In the Default Settings, the Wall thickness has been changed to Wall display thickness, to emphasize that the input affects only the drawing on the screen, and not the actual thickness of the wall studs used for hold-down deflection analysis. The default for that purpose is set via the stud size in the default Standard Wall.