Guard rail anchor to continuous reinforced Bond Beam over ungrouted Masonry Wall

[HashimMG]

"Quick Question..." is how our architects 1st posed this question. Not a quick solution. Due to the roofing they could not apply their typical detail of a metal guard rail on the roof but had it outside the perimeter and extend below the cap flashing and anchored to the side of the un-grouted masonry wall. "What Anchor should we use?" was the question. As anchors would have it, You were not going to get the strength you need from an anchor 4ft below a 200# lateral load (800#-ft moment, 2400# force needed for anchor pivoting 4" from base of bracket). So we had them add to the detail to remove and replace the top un-grouted masonry with a grouted bond beam with some continuous reinforcement. The anchor and other components I have but, I would like to justify the masonry bond beam with some design calculations. Looking for guidance on applying out-of plain lateral point load on a single course of reinforced masonry with end supports of...the wall itself ?? (no shear walls, thinking to use shear resistance at base of bond beam outside of the load pt for some reasonable length)

 

[jayrod12]

What is stopping this from just peeling the top course off the wall?

I'd be putting some verticals down a couple of courses into the masonry and grouting them in at some regular spacing so you're actually enacting some of the wall to help resist. Right now the only thing stopping the from rolling off the roof is self weight of the bond beam and potentially the tensile capacity of the mortar joint.

 

[HashimMG]

jayrod12 Torsionaly...true.

 

[phamENG]

Don't forget about the effect of prying on the angle detail they asked for, so that situation is even worst than you thought. Certainly need to engage more of the wall as jayrod said.