Structural Influencer: Bradford K. Douglas

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Bradford K. Douglas is the American Wood Council’s (AWC) Vice President of Engineering. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering from Virginia Tech and is a licensed professional engineer. Douglas has worked for AWC for 38 years and previously worked for the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau. He oversees AWC’s standards development program and serves on several standards development committees of other organizations, including ASTM, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC), and the International Code Council (ICC), addressing proper design of wood buildings for exposure to fire and structural loading including high wind and seismic loads.

STRUCTURE: Why did you decide to enter the field of structural engineering?
Douglas: Growing up on a small farm in Virginia, I was exposed to a lot of situations that allowed me to apply practical problem-solving. When I graduated high school, I knew I wanted to be an engineer, but I was not sure which type. I had experience working with my dad and uncle to construct farm buildings, operating and repairing farm equipment, wiring farm buildings, installing and repairing plumbing (usually when it was very cold), and a whole host of other hands-on structural and mechanical experiences. Entering college at Virginia Tech, the Agricultural Engineering program allowed me to study the engineering aspects of each of these areas. As my engineering studies progressed, I found myself especially drawn to engineering mechanics and structural engineering. On the recommendation of my advisor, Dr. Frank Woeste, I took several classes in structural reliability that built on the structural engineering classes that I had taken. Upon graduation, Dr. Woeste encouraged me to interview for my first full-time position as the staff engineer for the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau where I supervised the In-Grade Testing program of southern pine lumber. After 3 years of testing experience where I learned about many of the special properties of wood, I was hired by the National Forest Products Association (predecessor to AWC) to advance their structural modeling program using my unique knowledge of wood. Over the last 38 years, new and interesting structural engineering issues have arisen every day.

STRUCTURE: What do you consider your most significant contribution to the engineering profession?
Douglas: In the various positions that I have held at AWC over the last 38 years, I have been able to be a proponent for moving the design of wood construction towards more conventional engineered methods. While I have familiarity with the somewhat unusual aspects of wood behavior and wood properties, that knowledge has allowed me to advise on how to adjust accepted engineering design methods to allow their use in the design of wood construction.

STRUCTURE: What are some highlights of your building codes and standards work?
Douglas: One of my first major building code activities after joining AWC was participation in the development of the Southern Building Code Congress International (SBCCI) Residential High-Wind Deem-to-Comply standard, which later became SBCCI’s SSTD 10 Standard for Hurricane Resistant Residential Construction and is now the International Code Council (ICC) Standard for Residential Construction in High Wind Regions (ICC 600). At the time, design of residential wood-frame buildings was primarily in accordance with the conventional construction requirements in the building codes. It was recognized that those provisions were not adequate for higher wind load areas but strict engineering design in accordance with AWC’s primary consensus design standard, the National Design Specification (NDS) for Wood Construction, was seen by many as overly restrictive. Over eight years of research and meetings with researchers, industry representatives, design engineers, and code officials, adjustments were made to wind loading requirements and to wood-frame engineering analysis to bring together high wind engineered design of residential buildings in AWC’s second consensus design standard, the Wood-Frame Construction Manual for One and Two-Family Dwellings (WFCM).

As work on the WFCM progressed and changes to the wind and seismic requirements in ASCE 7 Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures and BSSC’s National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program accelerated, I pushed for the development of AWC’s third consensus design standard, the Special Design Procedures for Wind and Seismic (SDPWS). SDPWS provisions have clarified and expanded the engineered design of wood construction, including both wood-frame and mass timber construction, to resist wind and seismic loads.

In the late 1990s, another effort was initiated to start the transition of fire design from a prescriptive basis to an engineering basis. I began work on a new mechanics-based design approach that used the structural provisions of the NDS and adjustments to predict wood strength properties to predict the fire resistance times in standard fire resistance tests. In 1999, AWC issued a new technical report, TR10: Calculating the Fire Resistance of Wood Members. TR10 provided a mechanics-based approach for determining the fire resistance rating of large, exposed wood members using provisions for wood member design in accordance with the NDS. Over the following 20 years, we expanded the provisions for fire design of wood members in TR10 to include the design of engineered wood products, smaller exposed wood members, and the contribution of protection to the overall calculated fire resistance of wood members and assemblies. With the mounting knowledge in fire design, in 2018 AWC began work on a pre-standard for fire design of wood construction which was released in 2021. In 2022, AWC’s consensus group completed the first version of AWC’s fourth consensus design standard, the Fire Design Specification for Wood Construction (FDS), which combined requirements in existing building codes, wood design standards, and design aids for fire design of wood construction and provided new requirements to account for the added fire resistance and thermal benefits of protection provided by use of wood cover, gypsum panel products, and insulation.

STRUCTURE: What books and technical publications have you authored or co-authored?
Douglas: Over my career, I have contributed to over 100 technical standards, publications, and papers. Highlights of these contributions include the following:

STRUCTURE: What leadership roles have you held, and what would you tell other engineers about stepping into leadership?
Douglas: Beyond my role of overseeing the AWC’s research, engineering, and standards development program, I have also held leadership roles in several organizations. One of the most significant is Vice Chairman of the ASTM D07.05 Subcommittee on Wood Assemblies and Chairman of its sections on Wood Connections, Repetitive Member Wood Assemblies, and Loaded Wood Fire Assemblies. Leading these efforts for more than 20 years has been challenging at times, but it has also been gratifying to see them used when the standards are published.

For anyone who is considering stepping into a leadership role, I can think of no better way than to become acquainted with people who have interests in the same subject. It is also serves as a catalyst to gain a deeper knowledge in the subject.

STRUCTURE: You’ve received several awards. Which are most meaningful to you and why?
Douglas: One of the most memorable was the Wood Engineering Achievement Award that I received in 2000 from the Forest Products Society for development of the perforated shear wall design approach for use in U.S. building codes. The development of this design approach was based on research conducted by Dr. Hideo Sugiyama and his students with the University of Tokyo. In 1994, Dr. Sugiyama and I published the first paper on the perforated shear wall (PSW) design approach which was adopted in 1995 for wood-frame construction. For the first time, the PSW design approach provided an engineering basis for estimating the capacity of the braced wall approach used in conventional construction. In rapid progression, there were research projects and papers written on the PSW design approach, and work in this area continues today.
Another meaningful award was the 2015 ASTM Award of Merit for exceptional service to ASTM D07 Committee on Wood. The Committee was the first standards development group that I joined in 1983. Over the years, I have drafted, collaborated, and served as technical contact on a number of ASTM D07 standards used to develop wood design properties and design practices. I was honored to receive this award from my peers and the larger ASTM organization.

STRUCTURE: What advice would you give to younger engineers regarding a successful career path?
Douglas: When I started my career one of my early mentors, Dr. Edward King, advised me to broaden my knowledge and always continue to expand my understanding of wood and structural engineering. His advice was motivating then and, as I look back on my career, he was right. My advice to young engineers is somewhat cliché, but if you enjoy what you are doing, it never feels like work. A corollary might be that, if you continue to learn in your job, you will never be bored.

STRUCTURE: Who was your mentor or who influenced you most as a young engineer?
Douglas: I have mentioned a couple of early mentors, my college professor, advisor and friend, Dr. Frank Woeste and one of my early employers, Dr. Edward King. There have been so many others through the years at different stages of my career. Bob Glowinski who I worked with at AWC for over 30 years and who pushed me to become a better writer, Dave Gromala with Weyerhaeuser who pushed me to put my theories and thoughts on paper, and the many engineers with whom I’ve worked on various projects over the years.

STRUCTURE: Do you have any closing thoughts for our readers about the structural engineering profession?
Douglas: When one is initially exposed to so much information in college, it is easy to think that the engineering community has solved all of the problems; however, when you start to dig into most issues, you quickly find that simplifications and assumptions have been made. Some assumptions are good, most are convenient, and almost all can be improved. Be the one that seeks to improve our assumptions in structural engineering and life. Above all, take the moral high ground and you will never regret it. ■