Masonry walls made of masonry elements (walls) are significantly more sensitive to vertical and horizontal loads than monolithic walls.
The stability of masonry walls is achieved by: - constructing rigid walls
- constructing reinforced concrete ring beams
- constructing rigid floor (interfloor) structures
HORIZONTAL RING BEAMS are reinforced concrete monolithic structures that, like a ring, connect all structural walls (load-bearing and non-load-bearing). The minimum width of horizontal ring beams must be equal to the width of the wall, not less than 19 cm, and the minimum height is 20 cm.
Horizontal ring beams are constructed in the plane of the floor structure. If the height of the floors is greater than 6m, it is necessary to construct an intermediate ring beam (best at half the span).
VERTICAL REINFORCED CONCRETE PILLARS are reinforced concrete vertical elements that are executed at the joints of structural walls (at intersections, corners, and free beginnings) at an interval of up to 5-6 m.
The minimum dimension of vertical pillars is 19 x 19 cm, which is also the minimum dimension of structural walls. Vertical pillars are concreted after the execution of walls.
The minimum dimension of reinforcement bars is 4 ø 14 mm.
The horizontal and vertical reinforcement isinterconnected.
The tie or bracing walls ensure the stability of the load-bearing wall perpendicular to its plane. They are of the same thickness as the load-bearing walls. Load-bearing and tie walls must be built simultaneously in each story and connected with horizontal reinforcement into a single unit. Depending on the specified thickness of the load-bearing walls, the maximum allowed spacing between tie walls is:
- 5.0 m for load-bearing walls with a thickness of 19 cm
- 6.0 m for load-bearing walls with a thickness of 24 cm
- 6.5 m for load-bearing walls with a thickness of 29 cm
- 7.0 m for load-bearing walls with a thickness of 38 cm