🎥 📺Masonry Design Without Limits [WEBINAR RECORDING]
🎥

📺Masonry Design Without Limits [WEBINAR RECORDING]


Posted on December 11th, 2019 in Webinars



Summary

This presentation introduces MasterSeries software, a tool for efficient and rapid masonry wall design. The software allows engineers to analyse various wall configurations and materials, providing detailed calculations for factors like moment capacity and utilisation, all while adhering to different international building codes like Eurocode and British Standards. Users can experiment with different parameters, such as wall dimensions, boundary conditions (pinned or fixed edges), and material properties (brick and block strengths), to optimise structural integrity. A key feature is its advanced yield line analysis, which offers more accurate visualisations of stress patterns compared to traditional hand calculations. The software also addresses complex scenarios, including walls with multiple openings, the inclusion of bed reinforcement, and the integration of wind posts or piers for added support. The presenter highlights the importance of axial loading in enhancing flexural strength and demonstrates how to manage concentrated point loads. Finally, the presentation differentiates between the full and "power pod" versions of the software, clarifying which advanced features, such as those related to openings, wind posts, and bed reinforcement, are exclusive to the full version.

Key Points

  • Masonry Design Software
  • Wall Analysis
  • Opening Design
  • Reinforcement Options
  • Load Application

Description

The MasterSeries Software offers a standalone module for masonry design, which can be purchased independently from their other software suites, such as analysis of frames, portals, beams, or steel and concrete design. This module is designed to efficiently and rapidly design masonry walls and panels, aiming to save both time and money for users.

Key features and functionalities of the MasterSeries masonry design module include:

• Wall Definition and Loading: Users can start with a basic wall, define its dimensions (e.g., 6 by 3.5 meters), and apply various loads, such as distributed loads (e.g., 0.75 kilonewtons per meter square) and wind loads.

• Code Compliance: The software supports Eurocode (with UK National Annex and other European annexes), the old Irish code, and British Standards, allowing users to switch between different codes of practice.

• Edge Fixity and Support: Users can specify various support conditions, including pinned all-round, fully fixed, or continuous on one side. The software also offers a range between pinned and fixed edges, allowing for intermediate support conditions (e.g., 30% better than pinned, or even less than pinned for flexible support). For ground floors, a pinned base is typically recommended due to DPCs (Damp Proof Courses).

• Yield Line Analysis: The software performs an advanced yield line analysis, which provides a more accurate visualization of yield lines compared to hand calculations or simplified formulas. It shows how yield lines form, including "hugging" patterns (green lines) and more efficient paths across the "toe" rather than into corners. Users can adjust the mesh resolution (coarse, medium, fine, superfine) for this analysis, though finer resolutions require more computational resources and time.

• Material Selection and Thickness: Users can modify wall materials, such as outer leaf clay bricks (e.g., medium or very high-quality absorption) and inner leaf concrete blocks (e.g., 7, 10.4, or 17 Newton blocks). The software identifies "sweet spots" for block strengths (e.g., 10 Newton for clay bricks in flexure, 17.5 Newton for concrete blocks) beyond which there is no further flexural increase. Wall thickness can also be adjusted (e.g., from 100mm to 114mm or 140mm) to improve strength.

• Axial Compression and Flexural Strength: Applying additional axial loading (concentric and eccentric) from stories above can enhance the flexural strength of the wall, helping it to work even under challenging conditions.

• Openings: The software can handle walls with multiple openings (up to ten), automatically readjusting yield lines to account for their presence. It also allows specifying how openings span (horizontally, vertically, or two-way) and whether they transfer load (e.g., "no load" for pure openings without doors/windows).

• Bed Reinforcement: To strengthen walls, especially those with openings, users can introduce bed reinforcement (e.g., 3mm bars at 60mm apart, or 5mm bars at 150mm), selecting from a library of different types like Brickforce or Angcon. For outer leaves, galvanized or stainless steel reinforcement may be chosen.

• Point Loads and Pad Stones: The module supports the application of concentric and eccentric point loads, along with the design of spreader beams or pad stones to ensure proper bearing enhancement, especially around openings.

• Wind Posts and Piers: For walls that require additional strengthening, wind posts or piers can be introduced to divide up sections and improve capacity. These can be placed in the wall or cavity and rotated to utilize their major or minor axis strength.

• Free-Standing Walls and Columns: The software can design free-standing walls (e.g., 215mm thick, 1.8m high) by adding piers to improve their resistance to wind loads. It can also handle free-standing columns, allowing for concentric and eccentric axial loads in two different axes.

Differences between PowerPod and Full Version: The MasterSeries Masonry module is available in two versions:

• PowerPod Version: This version has limitations. It does not include concentrated point loads or pad stones, and it lacks the functionality for wind posts, openings, and bed reinforcement.

• Full Version: The full version provides all the capabilities mentioned above, including the advanced features for openings, reinforcement, wind posts, and concentrated point loads.

Users interested in trying the software can request a free trial from the MasterSeries website, which will automatically select the masonry module.