Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures

Prepared by the Committee on Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures of the Codes and Standards Activities Division of the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE.

Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures, ASCE/SEI 7-10, provides requirements for general structural design and includes means for determining dead, live, soil, flood, snow, rain, atmospheric ice, earthquake, and wind loads, as well as their combinations, which are suitable for inclusion in building codes and other documents. This Standard, a revision of ASCE/SEI 7-05, offers a complete update and reorganization of the wind load provisions, expanding them from one chapter into six. The Standard contains new ultimate event wind maps with corresponding reductions in load factors, so that the loads are not affected, and updates the seismic loads with new risk-targeted seismic maps. The snow, live, and atmospheric icing provisions are updated as well. In addition, the Standard includes a detailed Commentary with explanatory and supplementary information designed to assist building code committees and regulatory authorities.

The third printing of Standard ASCE/SEI 7-10 incorporates errata and includes Supplement 1. In addition, the seismic commentary has been expanded and completely revised.

Standard ASCE/SEI 7 is an integral part of building codes in the United States. Many of the load provisions are substantially adopted by reference in the International Building Code and the NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code.

Structural engineers, architects, and those engaged in preparing and administering local building codes will find the structural load requirements essential to their practice.