One interesting part of being a field engineer for Simpson Strong-Tie is having the opportunity to see how different structural engineers may take different approaches to similar designs. We at Simpson Strong-Tie have come to appreciate these different approaches and embrace this phenomenon by providing multiple resources to aid in the completion of a design. This is very apparent when it comes to the design of post-installed anchors.  As many of you reading this blog know, the design requirements for anchoring in concrete to transmit structural loads are provided in ACI 318-19, Chapter ..read more

We’re entering the year 2024 — welcome to the world of cracked and uncracked masonry. The last time Simpson Strong-Tie wrote a blog post regarding design criteria for post-installed anchors in masonry was in 2019, and ICC-ES was considering the adoption of a revised version of AC58, the Acceptance Criteria for Adhesive Anchors in Cracked and Uncracked Masonry Elements. Acceptance Criteria, or ACs, outline the testing that a manufacturer must comply with in order to get an evaluation report. In some cases, the ACs contain calculations methods if they are otherwise unavailable. If you missed th ..read more

Simpson Strong-Tie’s Greg Bundy, Senior Branch Engineer in Columbus, Ohio, recently led a training webinar on mass timber advancements. The workshop covered topics like the NHERI TallWood Project and a new guide for cross-laminated timber diaphragm design. The hands-on session featured installation of innovative products for structural engineers. Steve Pryor presenting at the Mass Timber Training What’s new with mass timber construction? On Thursday, October 19, 2023, a group of structural engineers found out. The Northeast branch of Simpson Strong-Tie (SST) hosted a mass timber workshop at t ..read more

Mass timber buildings use cross-laminated timber (CLT) or mass plywood panels to create horizontal diaphragms to transfer wind and seismic forces into the vertical elements of the lateral-force-resisting system. Spline connections resist shear forces at the panel joints, which I discussed in this blog post. I wanted to discuss several options for tension straps used for chord splices and collector forces. This blog will not discuss methods for calculating design forces. Instead, I am going to focus on several strap products and how we developed their allowable loads.  Straight straps are ..read more

The Simpson Strong-Tie structural steel team held an event earlier this year at Topgolf in Vineyard, Utah, to host 65 engineers. The view from the green range at this new Topgolf location was breathtaking with snowy peaks, and the view inside was not bad either, since you could see our Yield-Link® moment connection. Enjoying the Top Golf Event in Vineyard, Utah The cause of this celebration was the fact that this building used more than 80 Yield-Link moment connections in the construction of this structure. The event also included display samples of our new  Yield-Link brace connection a ..read more

The Yield-Link brace connection (YLBC) from Simpson Strong-Tie is an innovative solution for isolating damage to ensure that braced frames within structural steel buildings remain intact during a seismic or wind event. With predesigned, bolted connections, the YLBC simplifies design work, eliminates the need for field welding, and is easy to incorporate into new builds or retrofits.  With the introduction of the Simpson Strong-Tie Yield-Link® brace connection for steel construction, the engineering and software development teams at Simpson Strong-Tie created multiple software tools to su ..read more

Simpson Strong-Tie is proud to announce that one of our product engineers, Bonnie Yang, Ph.D., P.E., CFS, has been invited to give a public lecture on mass timber connections. The date of her lecture will be March 3 at 11 a.m. PST. Yang’s lecture will be part of a Mass Timber mini-lecture series hosted by the School of Architecture at Mississippi State University in partnership with the Mississippi Forestry Association.   The series will consist of eight short talks featuring mass timber industry leaders discussing topics ranging from the role of forest certification in mass timber ..read more

On November 9, 2022, we hosted the second in a two-part series on the latest solutions for creating cladding connection designs for structural steel buildings. The second webinar provided a technical overview of the Edge-Tie system. Simpson Strong-Tie R&D engineers Abhishek Kulkarni and Fayad Rahman discussed the performance evaluation testing and design parameters for a façade attachment method that uses adjustable bolted connections without any field welding. If you missed or would like to revisit the webinar, you can view it in the Simpson Strong-Tie Learning Center. During the Novembe ..read more

Mass timber floor panel systems for mid-rise light-frame wood construction are becoming more popular. Hybrid wood-framed systems have many advantages over conventional lumber floor systems such as 2×10/2×12 floor joist or I-joist systems.  Among the benefits of mass timber floor panel systems are the following:  Ease and speed of construction – Mass timber floor panels are manufactured offsite and delivered to the jobsite. This allows for quicker installation time per floor over the conventional site-built floor systems. Ease of sub-trade infrastructure work – Mechanical, plumbing ..read more

In this post, we follow up on our October webinar, New Design Methods to Enclose Buildings Faster, by answering some of the interesting questions raised by attendees. During the webinar, we discussed new design methods and solutions for curtain-wall and cladding connections and how they can maximize efficiency and resiliency throughout the construction process. In case you could not join our discussion, you can watch the on-demand webinar and earn PDH and CEU credits here. As with previous webinars, we ended with a Q&A session for the attendees. Our Business Development Manager, Tim Ellis ..read more