STUDY OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN WALLS GROUPS ON VERTICAL LOADS DISTRIBUTION OF STRUCTURAL MANSORY BUILDINGS

Resumo

The walls behavior intersections has been studied by many researchers, the structural
engineers usually incorporate this aspect in the design procedures defining the model of walls group
action. In this specific cases, many researchers have been studied the walls intersections in order to
verify the connections strength. In most cases, the group action of interconnected walls is delimited by
doors and window openings. Despite of that, masonry lintels under openings can affect this behavior
spreading the vertical loads through the openings and inducing a group interaction. This aspect isn ́t
enough explored by researchers. Therefore, the study presented herein developed a systematic analysis
to take into account the lintels masonry in the panels modeling, in order to evaluate it’s influence on
vertical loads distribution. Numerical simulations were performed using the equivalent frame model
developed by Nascimento Neto et al [1] and also using models based on shell finite elements. The
analyses conducted to evaluate the vertical stress redistribution on wall groups and to verify the
internal forces induced on lintels. The results showed that the reduction of stresses intensities must be
take into account carefully because it ́s influenced by many factors and not just by incorporating the
lintel in the modeling.