ABSTRACT
New structures are designed for a specified design working life according to (EN 1990, 2015). Facing sustainability requirements, designers need to account for extended lifetime usage beyond the original purpose of the building. Increasing the spans of the floors is one way to do so. Though, it significantly limits the use of masonry structures. (EN 1996-1-1, 2012) states that the designer should account for out-of-plane eccentricities of the masonry wall. Annex C of this document allows for a simplification with a fully restrained connection between floor and wall elements. Therefore, the eccentricity is directly related to the span of the neighbouring elements. Though, in the same annex, it is acknowledged that this is too conservative so a reduction is allowed. Nevertheless, they are not able to implement the stiffness of mortar joints or bearing paths. To take these interface materials into account, an easy-at-hand analytical approach is developed and tested.
