ASCE 7-05Chapter_1 - Chapter 1 GENERAL 1.1 SCOPE This standard provides minimum load requirements for the design of buildings and other structures that

Chapter 1 GENERAL 1.1 SCOPE This standard provides minimum load requirements for the design of buildings and other structures that are subject to building code requirements. Loads and appropriate load combinations, which have been developed to be used together, are set forth for strength design and allowable stress design. For design strengths and al- lowable stress limits, design specifications for conventional struc- tural materials used in buildings and modifications contained in this standard shall be followed. 1.2 DEFINITIONS The following definitions apply to the provisions of the entire standard. ALLOWABLE STRESS DESIGN: A method of proportion- ing structural members such that elastically computed stresses produced in the members by nominal loads do not exceed speci- fied allowable stresses (also called “working stress design”). AUTHORITY HAVING JURISDICTION: The organiza- tion, political subdivision, office, or individual charged with the responsibility of administering and enforcing the provisions of this standard. BUILDINGS: Structures, usually enclosed by walls and a roof, constructed to provide support or shelter for an intended occupancy. DESIGN STRENGTH: The product of the nominal strength and a resistance factor. ESSENTIAL FACILITIES: Buildings and other structures that are intended to remain operational in the event of extreme environmental loading from wind, snow, or earthquakes. FACTORED LOAD: The product of the nominal load and a load factor. HIGHLY TOXIC SUBSTANCE: As defined in 29 CFR 1910.1200 Appendix A with Amendments as of February 1, 2000. LIMITSTATE: Aconditionbeyondwhichastructureormem- ber becomes unfit for service and is judged either to be no longer useful for its intended function (serviceability limit state) or to be unsafe (strength limit state). LOAD EFFECTS: Forces and deformations produced in structural members by the applied loads. LOAD FACTOR: A factor that accounts for deviations of the actual load from the nominal load, for uncertainties in the analysis that transforms the load into a load effect, and for the probability that more than one extreme load will occur simultaneously. LOADS: Forces or other actions that result from the weight of all building materials, occupants and their possessions, environ- mental effects, differential movement, and restrained dimensional changes. Permanent loads are those loads in which variations over time are rare or of small magnitude. All other loads are variable loads (see also “nominal loads”). NOMINAL LOADS: The magnitudes of the loads specified in this standard for dead, live, soil, wind, snow, rain, flood, and earthquake. NOMINALSTRENGTH: Thecapacityofastructureormem- ber to resist the effects of loads, as determined by computations using specified material strengths and dimensions and formulas derived from accepted principles of structural mechanics or by field tests or laboratory tests of scaled models, allowing for mod- eling effects and differences between laboratory and field condi- tions.