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EuroCode Loading Cases

Within the MasterKey Masonry Design module, the following load cases are considered for the vertical and lateral design of a wall panel.

Loadcases for Vertical Load Resistance

The design of an unreinforced masonry wall is carried out in accordance with Section 6.1.2 of EC6. For the wall vertical load resistance design, the following cases are considered automatically within the software.

Case	Gk & GKu (Dead)	Qku Vertical Upper	Qk Vertical	Qk Lateral Inplane & Out of Plane (Wind) 1
1	1.25	1.5	1.5 * ψL	0
2	1.25	1.5* ψL	1.5	0
3	1.35	1.5* ψ	1.5 * ψ	0
4	1.25	1.5	1.5 * ψL	1.5 * ψw
5	1.25	1.5 * ψL	1.5	1.5 * ψw
6	1.25	1.5* ψ	1.5* ψ	1.5
7	1.35	1.5* ψ	1.5* ψ	1.5* ψw
8	1.0	0	0	1.5

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Note 1. In the vertical load takedown, the out of plane lateral loading effects on the vertical bearing capacity are taken into account as per EN 1996-1-1 6.1.2.2, Reduction factor for slenderness and eccentricity.

The psi factors associated with the variable actions (imposed and wind loads) are as follows:=

ψ = 0.7 general, 1.0 Storage
ψL = If “Qku and Qk as leading/accompanying” is checked then ΨL= Ψ, otherwise 1.0
ψw =0.5, wind load, UK NA

To set the variable load as storage, select the icon, which gives the following options:-

The option to set “Qku and Qk as leading/accompanying” option can be found under the Wall Loads input area:-

The MasterKey Masonry module then automatically determines the critical loadcase for the vertical design and the design calculations are based on this critical load case.

Loadcases for Vertical and Lateral Load Resistance

For out of plane lateral loading (wind) bending resistance design, only one loading case is considered.

Case	Gk (Dead)	Qk Vertical Upper	Qk Vertical	Out of Plane (Wind)
1	1.0	0	0	1.5

The minimum vertical load component is used to calculate the σd stress enhancement to fxd1 as per equation EC6 Eq (6.17). This is denoted as “gd” in the MasterKey Masonry design output. This is taken at the mid height of the wall. The software considered the vertical load in vertical strips across the width of the wall panel and then uses the minimum value from all possible vertical design strips to determine a lower bound, and so conservative, value for gd. Since the bending strength is enhanced by the presence of vertical compressive stresses, the variable imposed load is taken to be favourable and so has a factor of zero applied.

The above single load case represents a conservative value of fxd1,app and this value is used for the entire panel in the lateral load yield line analysis.

Point loads can be applied at any position