Ece Erdogmus, Richard Bennett, Jason Thompson and Bennett Banting
Ece Erdogmus, Professor, Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1110 S. 67th Street, Omaha, NE 68182, eerdogmus2@unl.edu
Richard Bennett, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, 1506 Middle Drive, Knoxville, TN, 37996, rmbennett@utk.edu
Jason Thompson, 3 Vice President of Engineering, National Concrete Masonry Association, 13750 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA, U.S.A, jthompson@ncma.org
Bennett Banting, Director of Technical Services, Canada Masonry Design Centre, 360 Superior Blvd., Mississauga, ON, Canada, Bbanting@canadamasonrycentre.com
ABSTRACT
This paper is one of the five companion papers from the project “CANUS: Harmonization of Canadian and American Masonry Structures Design Standards Project” and it focuses particularly on the comparison of reinforced masonry beam design provisions and approaches in Canada and in the U.S. The scope is limited to concrete masonry, limit states/strength design
approaches, and reinforced masonry beams. After a brief comparison of key equations, the differences are quantified through parametric studies. The difference between f’m values typically used in Canada (7.5 MPa) and the U.S. (13.8 MPa) results in Canadian beam strength nearly half that of U.S. beams. Further, the factor utilized in CSA S304-14 amplifies the divergence
between the standards to the point where most masonry beam designs common in the U.S. are not possible in Canada. Future research should be conducted to recalibrate and/or eliminate the factor to allow for a wider range of masonry beams to be specified in Canada. In contrast, TMS 402 is silent on deflection limits, distributed reinforcement, and cantilevered beams (lateral support, deep beam designation limits, etc…). Future research should be conducted to add related clarifications to future editions of TMS 402.
KEYWORDS: reinforced masonry beams, TMS 402, CSA S304, flexural design, deflections
