Page 37 - Design of Reinforced Masonry Structures

1.6 CHAPTER ONE

Wind loads constitute a major lateral force that masonry structures, like all other struc-
tures, must be able to resist. Ability of masonry structures to resist high wind loads has been
demonstrated by their performance in the regions of hurricanes and tornadoes. Reinforced
masonry buildings in the coastal region of North Carolina that were subjected to wind gusts
up to 115 mph due to Hurricane Fran on September 6, 1996, performed well [1.22].

1.6 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF BUILDING
CODES AND STANDARDS FOR MASONRY
CONSTRUCTION

Codes, standards, and specifications are documents that embody available professional and
technical knowledge required for completing a project. Structural engineering is a broad
and multifaceted discipline that involves knowledge of many fields, and no one person can
be an expert in all these fields. Furthermore, the accumulated and the newly found knowl-
edge, and the complex research developments need to be translated into simple procedures
suitable for routine design purposes. This goal is accomplished with the help and guidance
of many experts who are well versed in the many subdisciplines of structural engineering,
resulting in documented standards and procedures (codification) to be followed for suc-
cessful completion of a structure that would be safe. Codes and standards, which are the
resulting documents, thus become authoritative source of information for designers and
builders; they represent a unifying order of engineering practice.
Concern for the safety of occupants in buildings has been evident in the recorded laws of
some of the most ancient civilizations. Figure 1.2 shows a portion of the Code of Hammurabi,
written during circa 1780–1727 B.C. (and predating the Hebrew “Ten Commandments” by
some 500 years) by King Hammurabi, the most famous Mesopotamian king who wrote
some 282 laws that were depicted on stelae [1.23].
As a general practice, the regulation of building construction in the United States is
accomplished through building codes. The purpose of a building code is to establish mini-
mum acceptable requirements considered necessary for preserving public health, safety,
and welfare in the built environment. Building codes provide a legal basis to accomplish
this objective as best expressed by the International Building Code [1.1]:

This code is founded on principles intended to establish provisions consistent with the scope
of a building code that adequately protects public health, safety and welfare; provisions that do
not necessarily increase construction costs; provisions that do not restrict the use of new materi-
als, products or methods of construction; provisions that do not give preferential treatment to
particular types of classes of materials, products or methods of construction.

The primary application of a building code is to regulate new or proposed construction.
However, they are also used to enforce safety criteria for the existing structures. While the
concerns of life and fire safety and structural adequacy have traditionally remained as the
main preoccupation of building codes, they also deal with other issues such as the type of
construction materials used, lighting and ventilation, sanitation, and noise control.
In the context of design and construction, a code may be defined as a systematically
arranged and comprehensive collection of laws, or rules and regulations, especially one
given statutory status. A building code generally covers all facets related to a structure’s
safety, such as design loads, structural design using various kinds of materials (steel, con-
crete, timber, aluminum, etc.), architectural details, fire protection, plumbing, heating and
air conditioning, lighting, sanitation, etc. Specifications comprise a detailed statement of