1) Could we really reduce the unbraced length by half if we were to provide a connection in the middle (of a single-story X-brace) and have all the braces break at the gusset plate? The reasoning that goes along with this design is that the tension brace would prestress the connection so much...
I am researching in seismic design of RC containment strutures where leakage is a very important issue.
So far i have only been able to find out the following two formulae for calculating maximum crack width. They're available in ACI 224.2R-5
Broms and Lutz for tensile cracking
Gergely and...
