SEAoAL Winter Seminar | Weathering the Storm (6PDHs)

SCHEDULE

Speakers

John O’Brien, P.E., S.E.

Director of Engineering, PES Structural Engineers

With over 20 years of experience, John O’Brien has led the design of various structures, including senior living, mixed-use, hospitality, industrial, and retail buildings. His expertise focuses on designing for extreme loads such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes. John is passionate about interpreting and applying building code provisions and sharing this knowledge with his peers. As the Director of Engineering, he contributes his expertise to solving structural challenges, mentoring staff, and keeping the firm updated on industry trends and design practices.

John chairs the NCSEA Code Advisory Committee for Wind Engineering and is a voting member of the ASCE 7 Wind Loads Subcommittee. He also serves on the Chapter 30 Components and Cladding and Chapter 32 Tornado Loads Task Committees. Recently, he was nominated to the Board of the Applied Technology Council (ATC) to represent NCSEA and support wind-related initiatives.

TOPICS

Design for Tornado Loads using ASCE 7-22 – John O’Brien, P.E., S.E., PES Structural Engineers

Tornado load provisions are a new addition to the ASCE 7-22 design loads standard. This session will provide a background on tornado risks to the built environment and the evolution of tornado design provisions in the building code. The presentation will take a deep dive into the new ASCE 7-22 design provisions. Attendees will learn about the similarities and differences between tornado loads and standard wind loads on MWFRS (Main Wind Force Resisting Systems) and C&C (Components and Cladding) elements. The session will also include a practical design example to illustrate the application of these new provisions.

Wind Loads on Non-Building Structures - John O’Brien, P.E., S.E., PES Structural Engineers

The wind provisions in Chapters 29 and 30 of ASCE 7-22 cover a wide range of non-building structures, and components attached to building structures. This presentation will review the background of the code provisions and highlight how the provisions can be applied to a wide variety of components, even those that may not be specifically identified within the code. Several topics will be covered, including frequently encountered conditions such as freestanding walls and signs, rooftop equipment, industrial type open structures and tanks/silos, rooftop solar, parapets, canopies, and more.

William L. Coulbourne, P.E.

Structural Engineering Consultant 

Mr. Coulbourne holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech and a Master’s in Structural Engineering from the University of Virginia. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in three states and is recognized as a national expert in wind and flood mitigation. With nearly 30 years of experience, he has been involved in FEMA Mitigation Assessment Teams and natural hazard damage assessments.

Throughout his career, Mr. Coulbourne has investigated failures and mitigation techniques for thousands of buildings, including residential structures, schools used as shelters, hospitals, and other critical facilities.

He is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and a Fellow in the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE. He actively participates in the ASCE engineering standards committees for ASCE 7 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures and ASCE 24 Flood Resistant Design and Construction.

In addition to his consulting work, Mr. Coulbourne regularly delivers webinars and seminars on wind and flood design topics. He has also served as an Adjunct Faculty Member in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Delaware.

TOPIC

ASCE 7-22 Flood Loads

After many years of small changes made to the flood provisions in Chapter 5 of ASCE 7, the ASCE 7-22 version has made major changes in minimum design loads for floods, updated many formulas, and has brought years of research into the flood provisions. The most significant change has been to require flood load design for Risk Category II structures to be based on the 5

00-year flood event and for the design to include the effects of climate change. Since the inception of the Flood Insurance Program, the minimum design flood had been based on the 100-year event; many years of flood events, especially recently have proven that the 100-year standard is not sufficient to reduce flood losses. The ASCE Flood Load Task Committee decided that this minimum standard needed to be revised.

This presentation will include examples of both riverine and coastal flood maps and studies and how to use current information in applying the newly revised standard. These examples will also illustrate the impact these changes can have on building design.