Concrete Masonry Elevator and Stairwell Building Core Design Guide
Elevator and stairwell building cores play a critical role in providing structural stability and transferring loads from upper stories to the foundation. Reinforced concrete masonry is ideally suited for this application, offering durability, high fire resistance, excellent sound control, rapid construction, and ease of reinforcement.
This guide was created to help engineers and designers quickly and accurately determine moment and shear resistances for common elevator and stairwell core configurations. Unlike typical analysis methods that consider walls independently, this guide accounts for the beneficial effects of flange action at intersecting walls, improving both efficiency and realism in design.
All moment and shear resistances included were calculated in general accordance with TMS 402-22 and are organized for practical, real-world use.
CMU Elevator & Stairwell Building Core Design Guide and Tables
*This resource was developed for the Concrete Masonry Checkoff and the Block Design Collective by the Rocky Mountain Masonry Institute.
VP of MasonryTed Kelly
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