ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on design and detailing requirements from a conceptual point of view, and what lateral load resisting systems, elements, and connections should look like. It looks at lateral load paths, and shows how they enter a structure and find their way to the ground. Lateral loads on structures are commonly caused by wind, earthquakes, and soil pressure, and less commonly from human activity, waves, or blasts. The magnitude and distribution of lateral loads drives the layout of shear walls. These walls resist lateral forces, acting like cantilevered beams poking out of the ground. The chapter explains lateral forces on a structure, and determines their distribution into diaphragms and shear walls. Diaphragms consist of structural panels, and straight or diagonal sheathing boards. In other structures they are made of concrete slabs, bare metal deck, and diagonal bracing. Timber diaphragms have comparatively low capacity. Seismic design centers on yielding specific members in the structure to absorb energy.
