🎥 📺Designing complex masonry constructions with MasterSeries [Webinar Recording]
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📺Designing complex masonry constructions with MasterSeries [Webinar Recording]


Posted on April 30th, 2024 in Webinars



Summary

This webinar from MasterSeries Software introduces their masonry wall design module, primarily focusing on its advanced Yield Line Analysis capabilities. The presentation demonstrates how engineers can efficiently design wall panels for domestic properties, contrasting the more accurate, less conservative Yield Line method with traditional British and Eurocode standards. The speaker navigates various wall panel scenarios within a 3D model of a semi-detached house, illustrating how to define support conditions, apply loads (vertical, lateral, and point loads), and interpret utilisation ratios for a "pass" or "fail" outcome. The session also explores local reinforcement options like wind posts and piers, highlighting their specific functions within the software, and touches on in-plane load analysis for racking shear and moment resistance.

Key Topics

  • Wall Panel Design
  • Yield Line Analysis
  • Software Capabilities
  • Wall Panel Types
  • Load Considerations

Description

he MasterSeries webinar introduces the MasterSeries Masonry Wall Design Module, a software solution for designing wall panels, particularly in domestic settings. The webinar aims to provide insights into how the software can assist engineers in designing wall panels more efficiently, catering to both existing users and non-users by outlining its capabilities.

Key Features and Methodology:

• The software's unique selling point is its utilisation of Advanced Yield Line Analysis to check wall panels laterally for out-of-plane loads, which is often the critical design check.

• Yield Line Analysis is a plastic analysis method that determines the load at failure based on a simulated failure mechanism and yield line pattern. It generally provides a more accurate and less conservative design for laterally loaded masonry panels compared to traditional standard panel methods.

• The method is permissible under both British Standards and Eurocodes, which also allow for recognized methods like finite element analysis for obtaining bending moments in flat plates.

• The software can show a utilization ratio to indicate how far from failure a design is.

Application and Examples (Semi-Detached House Model): The webinar uses a 3D model of an extended semi-detached house to demonstrate the design of various common wall panel types, assuming standard cavity walls (100mm brick outer leaf, 100mm blockwork inner leaf, 100mm cavity).

Examples cover:

• Fixity Conditions: Different support conditions (fixed or pinned) are applied based on adjacent structures like perpendicular party walls, internal return walls, floor joists, roofs, and damp-proof courses (DPC). For instance, a DPC often requires a pinned support assumption due to its impact on moment resistance, unless proven by test to permit tension.

• Loading: Vertical loads from roofs and floors (including eccentricity), lateral wind loads, self-weight of panels, and point loads (e.g., from beams) are applied.

• Wall Panel 1 (Front Wall, Top Left): Demonstrates a straightforward panel with roof loads and out-of-plane lateral loads, achieving a pass with a 0.51 utilization ratio.

• Wall Panel 4 (Front Wall, Bottom Right): Features two openings (window and door). This example highlights where Advanced Yield Line Analysis can justify a wall panel design that might fail using traditional panel methods.

• Wall Panel 5 (Side Wall, Full Length): Shows that for simpler panels, the difference between Advanced Yield Line Analysis and traditional methods can be minimal, as the traditional method derives from yield line methodology.

• Wall Panel 9 (Longer Panel with Point Load): This panel spans over openings and supports a point load from a beam.

    â—¦ Local Reinforcement Options: When a wall fails, the software allows for local reinforcement:

        â–ª Wind Post: Contributes to local stiffness but does not transfer vertical load or act as a vertical support. It is treated as simply supported and does not act compositely with the wall, though it acts in unison. The yield lines can be seen passing through the wind post's location.

        â–ª Pier: A stiffener that behaves compositely with the wall panel. It also does not transfer vertical load or act like a buttress but locally stiffens the panel. Increasing the pier's flexural capacity can isolate failure to other parts of the panel.

• Rear Wall Panels (Wall Panels 10 & 11): These panels are designed to transfer in-plane loads (racking shear force) and moments from the side of the property down to the foundation, resisting both moment and shear.

    â—¦ In-plane loads are applied as a total load (kN) and in-plane moments are calculated using the shear force and the lever arm (mid-height of the wall).

    â—¦ The software allows for sharing loads between inner and outer leaves.

    â—¦ For critical checks, such as wall panel 11, a standard cavity wall might fail due to localized tension stress. Solutions include increasing inner leaf thickness or using engineering judgment to assume load redistribution to the compression zone.

    â—¦ The effect of Mz distribution can be toggled; for narrow masonry strips connecting two panels, it might be kept off if the strip is only transferring horizontal loads, not moments.

Ultimately, the software assists engineers, but engineering judgment is essential for making final decisions on design and feature application. Free trials and demos are available on the MasterSeries website