MasterSeries Blog
Masonry Design in the 21st Century
Designing masonry walls with multiple openings has long been the bane of the structural engineer.
Traditional methods of laterally loaded masonry wall analysis draw on basic yield lines from tabulated values in codes of practice. When openings are introduced, this simplistic approach reveals its limitations and produces considerable conservatism in the design.
In 2016 we set to work on producing a more powerful and accurate method for the analysis of masonry walls. Our R&D efforts led us to create the only software on the market to make use of what we call “Advanced Automated Yield Line Analysis”. This method makes use of mathematical linear programming to quickly and accurately determine the most critical yield-line pattern for almost any arrangement of openings, combined with multiple wind posts and lateral line loads.
With MasterKey: Masonry Design, you can quickly and accurately design single leaf and cavity walls with:
- Concentrated vertical point loads
- Bed joint reinforcement
- Multiple wind posts
- Up to 10 openings
- Lateral line loads
- Piers
Over the past two years, thousands of engineers have been reaping the benefit of these advances, confidently producing wall designs that were never before possible.
"MasterSeries Masonry is brilliant. No more dividing walls into approximate sub-panels, now we can model real-world combinations of doors/windows. Every day we are saving design time and making thinner walls work." - Antony Freeman, Andy Mann Structural Design
If you'd like to design more economical walls, call or email us for a quote. If you are a PowerPad user, you're already entitled to a 30% discount.
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