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This webinar was co-sponsored by ASCE's Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) and ASCE Continuing Education

Instructor:  Alexander Newman, P.E., F.ASCE

Course Length: 1.5 Hours

"Webinars are the answer to offering training opportunities for our staff. They are a cost-effective and time-effective tool to train our engineers and technicians. Flexibility is a key feature of online seminars and this is just the beginning of what is yet to come!"

Purpose and Background

The webinar provides practical guidance on the subject of strengthening existing wood beams and joists.  Wood framing in existing buildings often needs to be strengthened to reflect higher loading conditions at floors or roofs. The strengthening could involve only a few structural members (as when a piece of mechanical equipment is added to the roof) or it could involve many (as when the whole floor must be upgraded to a higher level of live load). The design procedures for this work are not always well explained in the codes and textbooks.

The challenges start with a need to find out whether the framing needs to be strengthened at all - or it can be "grandfathered." Then there is a need to establish structural properties of the existing wood. Can the allowable stresses in old timber framing be taken as those specified in today’s codes, or should historical references be consulted instead? Should the framing be tested? How about a common situation when the existing timber detailing differs from that used today – for example, when large notches are present at the bearing ends of joists?

The webinar provides practical guidance on the subject of strengthening existing wood beams and joists. The presentation covers structural evaluation of existing flexural members of both sawn and engineered lumber and the available options of their strengthening. The discussion includes not only the commonly used methods of strengthening but also those less known. The former include adding framing ("sistering"), shortening the span, or replacing the framing; the latter, adding bottom plates of wood or fiber-reinforced plastic and post-tensioning. A number of design examples and details illustrate the strengthening methods being discussed.

Learning Outcomes and Benefits

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Identify methods of strengthening wood flexural members
• Work through several design examples involving reinforcement with steel channels, flitch beams, and post-tensioning
• Find out how previous timber design and construction practices differed from today's and when old practices might be acceptable
• Discover how to determine properties of existing wood
• Examine methods of reinforcing shear capacity of notched wood joists

Assessment of Learning Outcomes

Students' achievement of the learning outcomes will be assessed via a short post-assessment (true-false, multiple choice and fill in the blank questions).

Intended Audience

Structural and civil engineers as well as technically inclined architects, contractors, and building officials seeking to broaden their knowledge of strengthening techniques for wood beams and joists will benefit from this webinar.

Webinar Outline

• When to strengthen wood beams and joists
• Dealing with previous timber design and construction practices
• Determining properties of existing wood
• Wood defects that might require strengthening
• Methods of strengthening beams and joints (with several design examples)
• Passive vs. active methods
• Adding members
• Replacement
• Shortening span
• Enlarging section
• Post-tensioning (external prestressing)
• Strengthening for shear

How to Earn your CEUs/PDHs and Receive Your Certificate of Completion

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 1 year of purchasing the course.

How do I convert CEUs to PDHs?

1.0 CEU = 10 PDHs [Example: 0.1 CEU = 1 PDH]