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IBC Chapter 16 — Structural Design

Updated Mar 25, 2026
General structural design requirements including load combinations, dead loads, live loads, snow loads, wind loads, seismic design, and soil lateral loads.

Section 1602: Definitions and notations for structural design. Section 1603: Construction documents — structural analysis required showing compliance with ASCE 7. Section 1604: General design requirements — load combinations per ASCE 7 Section 2.3 (LRFD) or 2.4 (ASD). D + L, D + L + S, D + L + W, etc. Section 1607: Live loads — Table 1607.1 minimum uniformly distributed and concentrated loads. Residential: 40 psf. Office: 50 psf. Assembly: 100 psf (fixed seats), 100 psf (movable). Retail: 75-100 psf. Storage: 125-250 psf. Section 1608: Snow loads per ASCE 7 Chapter 7. Section 1609: Wind loads per ASCE 7 Chapters 26-31. Risk categories I-IV. Section 1613: Earthquake loads per ASCE 7 Chapters 11-23. Seismic Design Categories A-F based on site class and mapped accelerations. Section 1610: Soil lateral loads. Section 1612: Flood loads per ASCE 24.

TAGS
IBCstructural-designlive-loaddead-loadwind-loadseismicsnow-loadASCE-7
DETAILS
code year
2024
references
["ASCE 7-22"]
code system
IBC
code section
Chapter 16
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