Brick Arch

[meca]

I am building a home, and have a brick arch over an entry way. Due to a mistake, the arch is wider and flatter than originally intended. I don't have any experience with masonry, and was looking for some guidance on how to confirm that this arch is adequate to support the weight of the brick and stone above it? Here is a picture:

http://www.mecaenterprises.com/downloads/arch.jpg

 

[BAretired]

meca,

With a vertical reaction of 3500#, the truss and tie model would predict a tie force of about 2020#. Whether it is 1300 or 2020, you need some tensile capacity (very nominal) to handle it. If there is no steel, the masonry must be carrying some tensile stress.

The exterior face appears to be stone. Is it a veneer and if so, what is behind it? A stud wall? Can you draw a cross section through it?



BA

 

[ajose]

I was looking at your picture, and have some question:

Is there two planes, one at the entrance door and other at windows upstair the entrance door?

The wall at the window upstair is supported on a slab or is it over the door wall?

What are the door-window wall materials?

What are the material arch?

What are the materials of the two wall beside the entrance door?

Could you submit some skecthes of these?

I could try to help if there is some time left to make desition.

Additional information:

I have seen tension rod on some building to void the horizontal forces, it is not so pretty but it is work. For the finishing if the fachade have to use some kind of painting that seems like the rod is rusty.

 

[meca]

Here is a link to some pictures to show the construction at various stages, which I think might be more illustrative than my 2D sketch.

http://www.mecaenterprises.com/downloads/ArchPics.pdf

 

[hokie66]

The arch is just in the veneer. It won't work as an arch because there is little to resist the thrust. It will try to work as a panel, as your FE model shows. But a tension crack could form at any time and propagate. Just a tiny amount of settlement could be enough to crack this very brittle panel which has no reinforcement.

 

[kslee1000]

from the FE output, you have high stresses under the arch, and at the arach-column intecpt corners. Are you positive the stresses are within allowable? have you consider wind, earthquake cases?

While the stresses around window look reasonable, I don't quite understand why the stresses 1/3 way from the ridge under the slant roof are almost having the same intensity as under the arch (or as stress in the columns). Maybe it is due to losing some rigidity at the wall-eave joints (in pink color).

Just courious.

 

[BAretired]

I would suggest that the arch should be removed and rebuilt using proper reinforcement. Otherwise, you will never be completely sure that it will not collapse at any time. There really is no other answer.

BA

 

[kslee1000]

Remind me of great Greek/Roman art

 

[SteelPE]

I’m am as far from a finite element wizard as you can get, but I think checking the Von Mises Stress should not be used in this instance. I think you are loosing the tensile forces (which everyone else is concerned about) in the way Von Mises Stress is calculated (hence its always +). Please Correct me if I am wrong.