Masonry shear walls

[delt]

Is there a limiting height to width ratio for masonry shear walls in either the IBC or ACI 530? Also, are perforated masonry shear walls permitted or discussed in either publication? I cannot find information on either. thanks

 

[DaveAtkins]

When designing per ACI 530, the h/t ratio only comes into play when determining the allowable axial stress, Fa.

I design perforated shear walls per Reinforced Masonry Engineering Handbook, by Amrhein. The lateral force is distributed to the individual parts of the wall according to relative stiffness, so the wall does not act as one large wall.

 

[boo1]

Additionally the Unified Building Code lists masonry wall ratio of height to width.

Cheers

 

[structurebeton]

Is there a good software out there to design masonry shear walls with openings?

 

[whyun]

There is a program called CMD97 by Concrete Masonry Association of California and Nevada. I believe they do not have the version in compliance with the 2000 or 2003 IBC yet.

http://www.cmacn.org/publications/computer.htm

 

[WillisV]

RISA has also recently released RISA Masonry which may be worth checking out given there track record of fairly easy to use and efficient programs - you can download a demo version at their website. Not sure about the with openings capability.

http://www.risatech.com/risamasonry.asp

 

[structurebeton]

I checked out the RISA, however, it looks that rebar design in tension at each end is highly dependent on yourself determining the location of centroid for the compression and tension.

It seems to me a far too simplistic approach, specially to locate the centroid of the compression side of the wall....