By Steven G. Judd, CE, SE, CBS
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Although reinforced hollow clay masonry (RHCM) represents a small portion of structural masonry design in the United States and Canada, RHCM has high strength which makes it very suitable and desirable for high demand facilities, such as tornado shelters. There are over 100 times more structural concrete masonry unit producers as there are structural clay masonry producers in the U.S. and Canada, which is one reason why most facilities constructed with structural masonry tend to be constructed with concrete masonry units (CMU). The other drawback to the use of hollow clay masonry (HCM) is an engineer’s lack of knowledge and familiarity with the HCM material. This article helps bridge that lack of knowledge.
Please note this article references The Masonry Society’s TMS 402/602-16, Building Code Requirements and Specification for Masonry Structures. Where different, TMS 402/602-22 items will be noted in brackets, thus: [ ]. The American Society of Civil Engineers’ ASCE 7 -16, Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures, is also the standard used.
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