Technical Guidance Note (Level 2, No. 20): Design and detailing of lintels in masonry walls

This Technical Guidance Note describes how steel fibre reinforced concrete ground bearing slabs are designed. This is a relatively recent innovation that continues to evolve. As such, this note aims to motivate the design and development of steel fibre reinforced ground bearing slabs, based on the most up-to-date information available at the time of writing.

Until relatively recently, masonry was the major load bearing component in a building structure. With the advent of steel and concrete frame technologies, masonry has become a part of a building’s cladding envelope and as such is more prone to being exposed to lateral loads than vertical ones.

This Technical Guidance Note concerns the design of masonry walls that are subject to lateral loads i.e. they are being used as a cladding element. It will discuss the way in which the material is assessed against how it is being restrained and its geometry. All of these factors have an impact on the design of masonry walls as well as the mortar within them and the exposure conditions. This is discussed in Technical Guidance Note 27 (Level 1) and should be read in conjunction with this guide.

(This article was updated in October 2016 to reflect errata issued since its original publication.)

This Technical Guidance Note concerns the design of pile-caps for small groups of piles e.g. 2-4 piles. It relies on the strut and tie method to determine the amount of reinforcement required in the pile-cap; which is dependent upon the depth of the cap, the magnitude of the axial load being placed upon it, the cap’s concrete strength and the pile size and spacing.