ATC's New Ground Snow Load Website Now Available

CLEVELAND - Sept. 30, 2015 - PRLog -- The Applied Technology Council (ATC), with the assistance from the Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) and the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), has developed a website, which provides a way for users to easily obtain an ASCE 7 site-specific ground snow load based on GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude) or a street address.

This website overcomes the challenges in using the snow load map printed in ASCE 7, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures. These challenges include insufficient spatial resolution of the map to determine some site-specific ground snow loads and the lack of reference cities or towns on the map.

On this website, users can obtain values from the ground snow load map printed in ASCE 7-95 through ASCE 7-10 (1995, 1998, 2002, 2005, and 2010). Ground snow load is used with the equations provided in ASCE 7 to determine design snow loads for buildings and other structures.

The ground snow load site is now available for use free of charge at snowload.atcouncil.org. The site is a companion to ATC’s Windspeed by Location website where users can obtain ASCE 7 site-specific wind speeds from ASCE 7-93 through ASCE 7-10.

The Applied Technology Council (ATC) is a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation established in 1973 through the efforts of the Structural Engineers Association of California.  ATC's mission is to develop and promote state-of-the-art, user-friendly engineering resources and applications for use in mitigating the effects of natural and other hazards on the built environment.  ATC also identifies and encourages needed research and develops consensus opinions on structural engineering issues in a nonproprietary format.  ATC thereby fulfills a unique role in funded information transfer.

Founded in 1956, the Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) serves manufacturers and suppliers as it works to promote the metal building systems industry. Its membership represents more than $2.4 billion in annual sales and accounts for approximately 52% of the total non-residential low-rise construction market in the United States. The association provides a wealth of technical information on its website, www.mbma.com, for anyone who works with or is interested in metal building systems, and publishes numerous technical manuals and design guides.

AISI serves as the voice of the North American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice.  AISI also plays a lead role in the development and application of new steels and steelmaking technology.  AISI is comprised of 19 member companies, including integrated and electric furnace steelmakers, and approximately 125 associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry.  For more news about steel and its applications, view AISI’s website at www.steel.org.

ATC Contact: Scott Schiff, scott.schiff@atcouncil.org

MBMA Contact: Dan Walker, dwalker@mbma.com

AISI Contact: Debbie Bennett, dbennett@steel.org