ASCE 7-22 Directional Procedure for Irregular and Multi-Level Buildings: How to Eliminate Torsion Errors and Reduce Wind Design Risk

In ASCE 7-22 Directional Procedure for Irregular and Multi-Level Buildings: How to Eliminate Torsion Errors and Reduce Wind Design Risk, you'll learn ...

• The analytical differences between the ASCE 7-22 Envelope Procedure and the Directional Procedure for MWFRS wind design
• The complete workflow for performing directional wind analysis on irregular and multi-level buildings
• The evaluation of torsional amplification, stiffness eccentricity, and directional load distribution in wind-loaded structures
• How to develop defensible wind design documentation that supports peer review, software verification, and professional risk control

Overview

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Credit: 4 PDH

Length: 46 pages

For many structural engineers, wind design remains straightforward—until the building stops behaving like a regular, prismatic box. Once setbacks, multiple roof elevations, eccentric stiffness, discontinuous load paths, or torsion-sensitive response enter the problem, simplified envelope assumptions may no longer be enough. At that point, the quality of the design depends on whether the engineer can recognize the limitation early and apply the ASCE 7-22 Directional Procedure correctly.

This course is designed for practicing structural engineers who need more than a general code overview. It provides a complete, step-by-step professional workflow for applying the ASCE 7-22 Directional Procedure to irregular and multi-level buildings, with focused treatment of directional pressure development, torsional response, load-path interpretation, software verification, and defensible design documentation.

Through realistic building scenarios, worked SI-based calculations, and practice-driven engineering judgment, you will learn how to determine wind loads more accurately, evaluate torsional effects more realistically, avoid common software and modeling blind spots, and produce review-ready wind design calculations for professional practice.

By the end of the course, you will not only understand the Directional Procedure more clearly—you will know how to apply it with greater confidence when simplified methods are no longer sufficient and when the technical defensibility of the design truly matters.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Obtained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

• The conditions under which the Envelope Procedure may become analytically inadequate for irregular buildings
• The calculation of velocity pressure profiles using ASCE 7-22 directional wind provisions in SI units
• The application of concurrent windward and leeward pressure coefficients in MWFRS analysis
• The conversion of directional wind pressures into story-level forces, base shear, and overturning moments
• The evaluation of torsional demand resulting from eccentricity between the center of pressure and center of rigidity
• The interpretation of inherent and accidental torsional behavior in wind-loaded buildings
• The distribution of torsional forces through diaphragms, shear walls, and moment frames
• The identification of software modeling pitfalls related to wind load application, coordinate systems, and envelope logic
• The implementation of independent verification checks for automated wind analysis results
• How to produce review-ready wind design documentation that preserves force traceability and analytical defensibility

Certificate of Completion

You will be able to immediately print a certificate of completion after passing a multiple-choice quiz consisting of 20 questions. PDH credits are not awarded until the course is completed and quiz is passed.