Suggestions for good Masonry design reference?

[buening]

Does anyone have any suggestions for masonry design? This is not something I use very often and all I currently have is the ACI masonry code. I looked on Amazon and pretty much all books had mixed reviews. The majority of my design with masonry is retaining walls, columns, and single story buildings. I don't need a reference that is way too advanced, just something with excellent semi-real world examples. A search on here didn't find much, sorry.

 

[UcfSE]

thread507-167309

thread507-113569

 

[buening]

Thanks, guess I need to polish up on the search skills

 

[concretemasonry]

ACI 530 is the best refernce, especially because of the COMMENTARY on both the codes and specifications. It is the "standard" that most codes are based on.

It offers a number of different design methods including Allowable Stress Design, Strength Design, Prestressed Masonry and Empirical Design of Masonry. This allows the designer to chose a method that may be most applicable for the type of structure and conditions/loading.

For very basic structures the Empirical section may be applicable.

Dick

 

[concretemasonry]

The Masonry Designers Guide (MDG) is a companion document that follows the ACI 530. Just like codes, it lags slightly because of the writing and adoption process. It has very good examples of a wide range of structures using different construction materials and methods. This is available through the ACI, The Masonry Society (TMS) and the National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA). If you take a ACI 530 seminar, there is usually a discounted price for the ACI 530/MDG package.

There are some excellent on-line free resources. The NCMA (ncma.org) has a set of TEK NOTES (over 100) that cover all aspects of concrete masonry design. These are not written in code language, but provide a good explanation of the basics of the design and construction with references to the appropriate codes and ASTM stsandards. There a number of good notes on different structural design methods, construction and specifications. Just go to the NCMA site and check a state and any producers name to gain access.

Masonry design is really nor radically different from concrete design. A masonry wall is a structural element with properties depending on the material strengths, height and thicknesses.

A "partially" or fully reinforced wall is a concrete element built using grout and concrete masonry units that are bonded loadbearing forms that become a part of the structure. Amount and location of reinforcement is determined by the designer. - Just don't make the mistake of overdoing the amount and strength of the grout.