One-sided reinforcement for masonry shear wall retrofits.

[Ninjahedge]

Good afternoon everybody.

I have a question that does not seem to have a direct answer online.

Like many Engineering problems, Structural Engineering sources only tell you how to place, and design for correctly placed reinforcement in masonry shear walls. They tell you to lay your horizontal reinforcement at 16" O.C. and give you maximum and minimum spacings, development lengths and so on.

What they do NOT tell you is, say you have a building where the builders messed up? What if their exterior masonry walls do not have the reinforcement required?

I know you can open up the wall and start putting bar in, but that gets rather expensive. I also know you can plate the structure with steel or fiber straps (provided you follow the instructions and take care for fire protection).

But one thing I have not been able to find anywhere is the case where you only have access to one surface of the wall. I know that applying straps to one face of the wall will improve the shear capacity, but I also know that this is an asymmetrical solution that will probably lead to a failure/rupture at the outer face before the strapped inner face.

I am looking for a way to evaluate these conditions that have been handed to me for approval, but there does not seem to be any literature or regulations written for this.

If any of you have any information on this, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[KootK]

We need to know more about the loads that you intend to reinforce the wall for. There aren't many applications where I would be okay with one sided strap reinforcement. Of the top of my head, retaining walls are about all I can think of.

I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.