Masonry wall limitations and assumptions

The following limitations and assumptions apply to the design of masonry shear walls in Tekla Structural Designer:

Limitations

General
- Seismic design is not currently considered in masonry wall design.
- Loads are distributed based on finite element stiffness. As such, specific limitations per TMS 402-22 5.1.1 and 5.2 are not considered.
- Masonry walls are modeled as homogeneous elements with solid cross sections. As such, shell analysis results may not correspond to actual stresses in a heterogeneous masonry wall construction. Design in Tekla Tedds ensures analysis results are designed appropriately for the defined wall construction.
Drawings
- Reinforcement detailing around openings etc. is the responsibility of the designer.

Assumptions

General
- A compatible version of Tekla Tedds must be installed and licensed.
- The locale (US) must be set correctly in Tekla Tedds before attempting to run the masonry wall design from Tekla Structural Designer.
- Masonry walls may be subject to axial forces and in-plane and out-of-plane moments and shears.
Material definition
- Masonry wall material can be defined in the Tekla Structural Designer material database with the assistance of Tekla Tedds. At the material level, all walls are assumed to be fully grouted and isotropic. The calculated material properties consider the specific wall construction defined and property values prescribed by TMS 402/602. Adjustments for grout spacing and/or orthotropic behavior can be made for each panel in the panel properties.
- Custom masonry materials may be defined without the use of Tekla Tedds. The design feature is not available for these custom materials.
Analysis
- At the start of the analytical process, an average density and adjusted orthotropic factors is calculated if required. Both are calculated on a masonry wall panel basis, with the intention of adjusting the wall properties and behavior according to the geometric characteristics of the panel construction.
- The average density is derived from the geometry and grouting of the masonry wall panel section.
- The adjusted orthotropic factors will only be calculated automatically if they are active and the option "Apply section adjustment factors" has been selected. Their calculation adjusts analysis properties for average section properties as recommended by NCMA TEK 14-01B - Section Properties of Concrete Masonry Walls. The adjustment to Ey (Young's modulus in the Y direction, along the height of the wall) is determined based on the selected primary bending axis. Calculation of these properties for a specific panel can be viewed in the design documentation accessed via the Export to Tekla Tedds option.
- Orthotropic analysis properties calculated by Tekla Tedds provide a basic adjustment based on section properties only. Masonry wall stiffness can and should be reviewed and adjusted for specific design applications. Orthotropic analysis adjustments can be made from the panel properties and generally applied modification factors can be applied from the Analysis Settings dialog.
- Once these properties have been defined they will only be recalculated during the analysis in cases where they become outdated.
Design
- The design of masonry wall panels is only available if there are combination results in the model.
- Wall patches associated with masonry wall panels are checked during the design of the wall panel.
- The design of a wall patch can also be investigated from the context menu of the patch.

Note: For further information relating to the scope, assumptions and limitations, general notes and references specific to the Tekla Tedds calculation itself, please refer to the Masonry wall section design (TMS) calculation in the Tedds calculation library.