ABSTRACT

If a wall and the beam on which it is supported can be considered to act as a single composite unit then, for design purposes, the proportion of the load acting on the wall which is carried by the supporting beam must be determined. Prior to 1952 it was common practice to design the beams or lintels so as to be capable of carrying a triangular load of masonry in which the span of the beam represented the base of an equilateral triangle. The method allowed for a proportion of the selfweight of the masonry but ignored any additional superimposed load.