ASCE 7 wind load calculation (velocity pressure, exposure category, gust effects), seismic design categories and the Equivalent Lateral Force base-shear procedure, lateral force-resisting systems, and story drift limits.
Wind and seismic are the two lateral loads nearly every building must be checked against, and ASCE 7 governs both — but the two loads behave completely differently: wind is an external pressure roughly independent of the building's mass, while seismic force is inertial and increases directly with it. This module works through the wind velocity-pressure equation and exposure category, the difference between Main Wind Force Resisting System and Components & Cladding pressures, how Seismic Design Category is determined, and how the Equivalent Lateral Force procedure turns site seismicity into a design base shear.
By the end of this module you should be able to explain why choosing a more ductile lateral system directly lowers the calculated seismic base shear, why a roof corner's cladding pressure is deliberately more severe than the pressure used to size the main structural system, and why a story drift check is required even when the structure already has adequate strength — the lateral-system reasoning this program's foundations module assumes when sizing overturning and uplift at the base.