Lateral Loads

Use the Lateral Loading options to specify wind loading and horizontal line loads. Racking in-plane moments and shears can also be included.

An unfactored lateral uniform area wind load (Wx in kN/m2) can be applied to the whole of the face of the wall.

A triangular area load (Qx in kN/m2) can be applied to the wall, where Qx is the full unfactored intensity of the load at the bottom of the wall, reducing to zero at the top of the wall. This option could be used to check a masonry retaining wall.

If the removal of a wall panel does not affect the overall stability of a building, a reduced material factor can be used.

The tables in the codes limit the height over length ratio (H/L) to min and max values. By removing the tick from this option, the H/L limits can be temporarily ignored. It will be prudent to only allow this to occur if the H/L limit is slightly outside the min and max values.

For laterally loaded stiffened walls, the piers can be in tension or compression.

Edge loads can be applied to the perpendicular to the wall. For this to work the edge fixity on the particular edge must be set to 'free' for the load to be applied. The loads are in kN/m. These could represent a lateral line load coming from another wall perpendicular to the wall being designed or a horizontal line load along the top edge.

Up to 10 lateral line loads can be place against the wall. These can be defined as a load in kN/m with a start point (X1 and Y1 in metres) and an end point (X2 and Y2). Thus the line load can be horizontal, vertical or inclined. A horizontal line load can represent the load applied to a wall by a racking shelves restraint system, for example.

To delete a load, right mouse click on the line that load is in and the 'delete' option will appear.

An in-plane wall moment (Mz) and horizontal racking shear force (Qz) can be applied to the wall. These can be shared between the inner and outer leaves, by applying an Outer Leaf Contribution percentage.

You can also opt to have the in-plane section remaining planar with the Mz distribution.

For columns you can select the units for lateral loads (kN/m or kN/m²). You can also define a uniform and triangular load in each direction.