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Essay:
Total construction in US 1997 is $577 billionTotal construction in the United States in 1997 amount to $577 billion or approximately 7% of the Gross Domestic Product. Approximately 30% of this amount was spent on new residential (single-family) construction, Wood-framed construction constitutes the majority of single-family homes as wood is an economical construction material. In general, wood-frame homes perform well trader gravity loads, Substantial damage and economic losses, however, have resulted from natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes Therefore, significant economic and societal benefits may be realized by the development of methodologies to better predict and evaluate the performance of single-family, wood-frame houses subjected to extreme lateral loads. In spite of the extensive use of wood, wood-frame houses are being designed "on a basis of ignorance rather than on the basis of knowledge and understanding" (Diekmann, 1994)
Source: Yancey, C.W., Cheok, G.S., Sadek, F., and Mohraz, B., 1998
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