Guidelines for fabric structures (ASCE 55-10) updated to current standards

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Tension Membrane Committee has revised ASCE 55-10, the organization’s primary set of guidelines for designing a wide variety of tensioned fabric structures. The new updated standard, ASCE 55-16, will answer how to design a structure to meet codes and more. Unlike ACSE 55-10, the revised standard includes a special chapter on air-supported structures for the first time, making it a crucial resource for designer, engineers and fabricators of this structure type.

The working groups spent more than three years revising the standard with a main goal of bringing it up to date with current building codes and engineering principles, addressing a number of critical issues, such as

• the wide range of polymeric materials currently used in architectural structures

• how to test different materials

• better defining fabric-to-fabric, fabric-to-nonfabric and nonfabric connections to ensure performance •

and updating all fire specifications and standards to meet current codes, among other issues.