DES345 – 2015 NDS Connection Primer
Credit: 1.5 AIA LU/HSW, 0.15 ICC CEU

With the variety of fasteners available for wood construction, this presentation will provide a basic understanding of connections that includes design examples based on the 2015 National Design Specification® (NDS®) for Wood Construction. Solutions for nailed, screwed, and bolted connections will be presented, along with specific information on calculating shear capacity as well as withdrawal capacity. Multiple approaches to calculating capacity will be discussed, including tabulated references, calculation-based techniques, and computer program solutions (including WoodWorks® Connections software). Material properties for fasteners as well as connected materials including wood-to-wood, wood-to-steel, and wood-to-concrete will be discussed.

Learning Objectives: 

1. Be familiar with NDS provisions for fastener withdrawal capacity and NDS and TR-12 provisions for fastener shear capacity.
2. Learn various approaches in the NDS for calculating fastener capacity.
3. Understand the 6 lateral design value yield modes and material properties used to calculate capacity.
4. Understand the types of connections WoodWorks® software designs, how to use the software, how to view the design results and the connection drawing output.