A new report published by CSA Group and authored in partnership with CMDC has just been published and is available for viewing on their website press release, linked here.

Click here to view the Executive Summary (hosted on CSA’s Website)

The linked page includes the full executive summary with a link to download the full report on the left side of the page (at the top of the article if reading on mobile)

Authored by Adrien Sparling, Dan Palermo, Ph.D., P.Eng., and Usman T Khan, Ph.D., P.Eng. at York University, the report explores the various ways in which masonry related CSA Standards may be impacted by or could be improved to consider the effects of climate change.

Specifically, the report dives into how corrosion resistance is evaluated for masonry connectors, as well as how durability is evaluated against freeze-thaw cycling. It also makes recommendations regarding quantifying and reducing C0₂ emissions and energy usage.

Which standards were included in this study?

The following masonry standards were examined as part of this report:

• CSA A82:14 – Fired masonry brick made from clay or shale
• CSA A165 Series-14 – CSA Standards on concrete masonry units
• CAN/CSA-A179-14 – Mortar and grout for unit masonry
• CSA A370:14 – Connectors for masonry
• CSA-A371-14 – Masonry construction for buildings
• CSA S304-14 – Design of masonry structures

Read through the summary and download the full report today

The executive summary along with a download link can be found on CSA’s website:

Click here to view the Executive Summary (hosted on CSA’s Website)

To download the report, a link is available on the left side near the top of the page:

This report demonstrates just one way in which CMDC is active in the code and standards development process.

A new report authored by CMDC has been published by CSA Group as of February, 2021. This report represents the fruition of a joint effort between CMDC and the National Concrete Masonry Association to investigate and propose recommendations for future code development.

The full executive summary has been featured on an article hosted by CSA Group, available here.

Click here to download the report

The collaborative Canadian-American initiative is broken down into three parts with proposed recommendations at the end. These three key activities include:

1. Comparison of the Canadian limit states and the US strength design provisions, including load (NBCC/ASCE 7) and resistance (CSA S304-14/TMS 402-16) provisions;
2. Parametric studies of reinforced masonry beams and in-plane and out-of-plane bending of reinforced masonry walls; and
3. Comparison of preliminary archetype building designs.

Each part is summarized below and is further explained in the full report.

Comparing and Contracting Canadian and US Design Standards

The first part involved a comparison of the Canadian limit states and the US strength design provisions, including load (NBCC/ASCE 7) and resistance (CSA S304-14/TMS 402-16) provisions. This review revealed that, similar to the loading provisions, the methodologies used by both standards for computing reinforced masonry element resistances are generally similar in nature. Key nuances identified include:

• Lower CSA S304-14 masonry compressive strength, f’_m and flexural tensile strength, f_t which were noted to be approximately half of those specified by the TMS 402-16 standard;
• Use of a directionality factor, 𝛘, in CSA S304-14 which impacts the resistance of masonry elements where compressive stresses are applied normal to the head face;
• A lower CSA effective compressive width of 4t when computing out-of-plane resistance of masonry walls which is triggered much sooner compared to 6t used in TMS 402-16; and
• Differences in resistance (strength) reduction factors with impacts noted to be more prominent in compression-controlled responses.

Examining how these differences affect the design of masonry beams and walls

The second part, a parametric study, was carried out to investigate the nuances identified during the standard comparison. The studies illustrated the following:

• Lower axial resistance in CSA S304-14 under combined axial load for out-of-plane bending response due to lower masonry compressive strength values and lower masonry material resistance factors;
• Lower CSA S304-14 squat wall resistances due to reduced moment arm;
• The CSA S304-14 reduced moment arm provision was shown to overestimate the actual moment for wall aspect ratios near 1.0;
• Reduction in CSA S304-14 resistance in tension-controlled regions of combined axial and out-of-plane bending response due to smaller effective compression width of 4t versus the TMS 402-16 provision of 6t;
• Reduced CSA S304-14 beam resistances, nuances attributed mainly to the directionality factor, 𝛘, and to greater compression stress block depth as a consequence of the smaller masonry resistance factor and lower masonry compressive strength; and
• Overall reduced seismic capacity of shear walls inhibiting their use in regions of high seismicity in Canada

Look at the overall effect on building design on each side of the border

The third activity involved performing eight structural designs, where a warehouse-office structure and multi-unit residential structure were designed on each side of the Canada-US border at two locations. The British Columbia location illustrates designs governed by earthquake loads, whereas the Niagara Falls designs illustrate the design differences with lower seismic hazard risk, governed by the combination of wind and vertical loading such as deal, live, and snow loads.

Preliminary designs of two building archetypes were carried out at two locations along the Canada-US border to identify nuances in location-specific design. In general, the two-storey mixed-use archetype design in the US was achievable with either smaller masonry block units or units of the same size but with significantly less reinforcement. Several differences were noted in the beam designs and highlighted how restrictive the Canadian design provisions are in comparison to the US. On the other hand, the multi-storey residential archetype exercise revealed that designs with a greater number of storeys can be achieved using the Canadian provisions. The number of storeys was restricted in the US due to the maximum reinforcement limit, a provision which is not included in the CSA S304-14 design standard.

The summarized findings are listed below with the full list and discussion items available within the report:

Click here to download the report

Note that the linked report available for download is a condensed version from the original document available to CSA S304 committee members. The full report goes into further detail and also contains calculations for the referenced designs and is not publicly accessible.

As discussed in the report, these two sets of design standards were developed by the same collection of research and knowledge, yet they yield very different results. This report represents the culmination or significant effort to harmonize these approaches and improve the way engineering design is done on both sides of the border.

National Masonry Design Programs is proud to announce the official release of Masonry Analysis Structural Systems (MASS^TM) Version 3.0.

Major Changes in MASS Version 3.0

The major changes are listed below while the full list of changes can be found on the MASS website here as well as in Section 1.6 of the MASS help files.

Design Codes and Standards

As mentioned above, Version 3.0 adapts all masonry design procedures from Version 2.2 to using current design standards. Two papers outlining these changes were published and presented by Dr. Drysdale, Dr. Banting, and David Stubbs at the recent 13^th Canadian Masonry Symposium hosted by the Canada Masonry Design Centre (CMDC) and Dalhousie University. These papers can be found here (Part 1: Non-Seismic Changes) and here (Part 2: Seismic Changes). With the exception of seismic minimum reinforcement requirements, all of the changes within the current scope of MASS are considered non-seismic. The next release of MASS which is already in development will increase this scope to include higher levels of ductility performance, as well as the rest of the newly added CSA S304-14 Chapter 16: Special Provisions for Seismic Design.

New Project File Format

In an effort to reduce confusion around which projects have been designed in accordance with which codes and standards, the project file format “.masonry14” was created which designs exclusively to the current standards. MASS Version 3.0 can still open old projects, however upon opening them, you will be prompted to “Save As” a “.masonry14” project as the design results may be affected. An article explaining the difference and compatibility can be found online here.

Additional Bug Fixes

As software issues are discovered, they are posted on our “Known Bugs” page which is linked from the MASS website homepage and kept up to date. There was one bug recently discovered internally at the CMDC what was also present in Version 2.2 which was re-compiled at MASS Version 2.2.1 and included in the Version 3.0 download. An explanation of the bug can be found here and a Version 2.2.1 explanation can be found here.

How to upgrade

Step 1: Open the Notification email and follow the link to the MASS Upgrades page:

Didn’t receive the email? Check with your admin staff or local IT professional who may be in charge of software licensing for your company. Only MASS website account holders or manually assigned users will have been sent the notification email. In the event that you require access to the download but someone else in your office was sent the email, simply using a forwarded copy with the credentials included is enough to access the download (Note that this does not require the account password or other more sensitive information such as address. We do not save or even have access to payment information)

Step 2: On the MASS upgrades page, select the option to download MASS Version 3.0.

Step 3: Copy and Paste your email address and corresponding serial number and clock “DOWNLOAD” to begin the download:

Note: Even a change of one typed character is the difference between the download working and not being found in the database. Please double check your entries or copy and paste from the email notification which has been pulled form the same database.

Step 4: File will begin downloading:

For most web browsers, the keyboard shortcut CTRL + J can be used to open the list of downloaded files.

Step 5: While the package is downloading, it is highly recommended that all existing versions of MASS be uninstalled prior to installing MASS Version 3.0. For assistance on how to uninstall programs, click here.

Step 6: Once the file has finished downloading, the directory can be extracted and opened to show the following files:

After uninstalling all prior versions of MASS (including Version 2.2), run the “setup.exe” file to install MASS Version 3.0.

There is also a video available on the downloads page outlining the same process for MASS Version 2.0 which is essentially unchanged. For assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the authorized MASS technical support provider, Canada Masonry Design Centre.

Back in April of 2016, the release of MASS Version 2.2 marked what was thought at the time to be the final version of MASS which designed using the old 2004 versions of the CSA Standards. In the early development stages of Version 3, before any technical changes were implemented, some user interface items (ie. MASS Welcome Screen) and other common headaches (ie. Printing, activating) were also added to help ease the transition of switching to a new design code in MASS.

The discovery of a new bug prior to the release of MASS Version 3.0 is included on our Known Bugs page as well as having a full explanation available here.

While the bug was investigated and a fix was found and tested, the decision was made to add the fix to Version 2.2 as well in an effort to make it age a little better. While old versions are not supported and there are no plans to release updates to old versions, an exception was made for two reasons.

1. The bug discovery and fix occurred shortly ahead of the Version 3.0 release
2. Version 2.2 is the last version that will design using the old 2004 CSA Standards as well as open the old “.masonry” project files (click here to read more on the new MASS project file format)

What is different in Version 2.2.1?

MASS Version 2.2.1 is identical to Version 2.2 with the exception of a fix to the bug explained here.

How to upgrade Version 2.2 to Version 2.2.1

1. To upgrade Version 2.2 to Version 2.2.1, first uninstall MASS Version 2.2. For assistance on how to do this, click here.
2. Once Version 2.2 is successfully uninstalled, go to the Version 3.0 installation folder and run the file named “MASS221.msi”

The version can be checked within MASS by clicking “Help” on the top toolbar and then select “About MASS“.

Please do not hesitate to call or email with any questions. Click here for a full outline of the various services offered by CMDC (the authorized technical support provider for MASS)