New approach for spacing of movement joints in reinforced and unreinforced masonry veneer walls

The spacing of movement joints has been subject of many discussions. The current methods for the determination of the spacing of movement joints are based on local traditions and bad experience with cracked veneer walls. This has resulted in various design rules throughout Europe with very stringent limits for spacing of movement joints. According to EC6, one of the solutions for increasing the spacing of movement joints is to introduce bed joint reinforcement, although unfortunately no specific design rules are given. Until now, most scientific research has been focused on numerical simulations without taking time-dependent effects into account, which is a conservative approach. In this paper, a new approach is described. It is based on Peter Schubert's model and on practical experience with masonry buildings.