Wood Shear Walls

I have no experience in designing or detailing wood shear walls so in studying for the exam I want to make sure I'm not overlooking something. I understand finding the shear force per foot and selecting panel thickness and nailing requirements using the IBC tables. I also understand finding the holddown forces and designing the anchorage requirements. Anything I'm missing?

In addition to the IBC tables, make sure you also know how to read the tables from the NDS "Special Design Provisions for Wind and Seismic." Be sure to divide the tabulated value by 2 for ASD and check the applicability of the footnotes, especially the Specific Gravity Adjustment Factor.

You'll also want to have a basic understanding of how loads are transferred to shear walls through collector elements (though this topic is not specific to wood shear walls).

If you're looking for more information, Chapter 10 of "Design of Wood Structures" by Breyer gives a good overview of wood shear wall design. (Chapters 9, 15, and 16 and also very worthwhile for anyone studying for the lateral exam).

Generally though, I don't think you need to spend too much time on this topic. Wood accounts for only 7.5% of the lateral breadth exam, so you probably won't get more than one multiple-choice question on wood shear walls. Might get something more for the afternoon, but a basic understanding should be all you need.