×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Question about Enercalc Masonry Wall Design

Question about Enercalc Masonry Wall Design

Question about Enercalc Masonry Wall Design

(OP)
In the Masonry Wall design portion of Enercalc v5.8, what does the parapet height refer to?  The definition provided in Enercalc Help is, "This portion of the wall extends above the Clear Span Height and will apply a concentrated moment due to wind or seismic loads to the top of the wall.  Vertical load due to the parapet weight is also included."

What is the parapet wall?  Is it part of the masonry wall, and must it be constructed of masonry?

What if I have an ordinary metal stud wall above my masonry wall?  Is that counted as a parapet wall?  Thanks for all your advice.

RE: Question about Enercalc Masonry Wall Design

(a) this is probably the wrong forum

(b) I have never designed a building

(c) I have never seen your software

but

(d) I found the description sufficient

Yes, your stud wall is a parapet wall, it generates wind loads. It will also generate fairly small self weight loads.


 

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: Question about Enercalc Masonry Wall Design

Interesting that there isn't an Enercalc forum.  I'm kinda surprised.  

A quick perusal of the Enercalc website shows that version 5.8 isn't supported anymore.  Even so, I'd contact their support address. Michael can be somewhat slow to respond (or so I hear), but he knows his programs in and out.... After all, he wrote virtually all of it.  

Another option might be the Enercalc Knowledge Base or On-Line Community.  I'm not a user of this software, so I have never used either of these resources.  But, they seem the most obvious place to turn to.   

RE: Question about Enercalc Masonry Wall Design

The parapet wall is the portion of the wall above the roof line.  Depending on the height of the building and the locality, it is required for fall protection.  Its also used to hide rooftop mechanical equipment from being seen from the ground.  
If the wall is masonry, I'd suggest the parapet also be masonry.  It is designed as a cantilever element with the wall.  If you change to another material, metal stud as you suggest, you will have to add bracing behind the stud wall as it is very difficult to design a stud wall connection to resist the moments produced by wind loads.
Enercalc 5.8 is the older version, the newer version out today is 6.0 and has quite a few refinements, easier to use as well.  

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources