Masonry Magazine April 2002 Page. 10
TMS
RESPONDS
Answers to Questions Regarding Masonry Design, Construction, Evaluation & Repair, by Max L. Porter, Iowa State University, Chairman of the Masonry Standards Joint Committee
Reprinted from The Masonry Society (Vol. 2, No. 1 Jan/Feb.) 2002: A publication of The Masonry Society to advance the knowledge of masonry.
The Masonry Standards Joint Committee (MSJC) is in the process of completing a new edition of masonry standards for design and construction and final approval of these revised standards is expected in early 2002. These standards entitled "Building Code Requirements for Masonry Structures (ACI 530/ASCE5/TMS 402)" and "Specification for Masonry Structures (ACI 530.1/ASCE 6/TMS 602)" along with their companion commentaries are typically referred to as the MSJC Standards, or the "Code" and "Specification," respectively.
The MSJC has made numerous changes to the four documents (Code, Specification, Code Commentary and Specification Commentary). Many of these changes are minor corrections, updates, and editorial improvements and do not warrant including in this short summary description; whereas, several other changes are substantial and are summarized briefly in the sections to follow. Some of these significant topics include a new strength design chapter, integrated seismic design requirements, modifications for allowable flexural tension design values, wind speed threshold for empirical design, criteria for veneer supported by wood, clarifications for empirically designed shear walls, removal of drip ties, removal of "when required" provisions, quality assurance provisions for prestressed masonry, grout demonstration panels, and protection requirements for reinforcement.
Strength Design Provisions
For the first time, a chapter on strength design of masonry is included in the MSJC. This new chapter provides a major design advancement in the Code. Previously, strength design had not been included in the MSJC, but other sources such as the NEHRP (National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program) and the IBC (International Building Code) had included such provisions, especially in conjunction with earthquake design. The MSJC has worked for many years on various forms of limit state design criteria and has now included strength design as a means of inelastic computation. Many sources of research over the past few years have contributed a wealth of new data to provide a firm basis of inelastic criteria for masonry design.
Even though a philosophy of strength design has been added for masonry design, the MSJC retained and im-
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10 MASONRY APRIL, 2002