Windpost Design Spreadsheet

Windposts

Windposts are used to strengthen new or existing masonry walls against lateral loads such as those from the wind. They are often used in cases where existing walls are subjected to new lateral loadings or where there is concern that older walls are not suitable without additional support.

Windposts come in a number of different shaped sections and there are many different systems commercially available in the UK and worldwide. However most windposts are basically either channel (including PFC, RSC, UPE and UPN shapes) or angle shaped sections. This is because these sections shapes are readily available, include a large range of choices for smaller section strengths, and are easy to connect to masonry walls for use as windposts. The CivilWeb Windpost Design Spreadsheet comes pre-loaded with details of all standard channel and angle sections.

Windpost Design

The CivilWeb Windpost Design Spreadsheet has been cleverly designed to be as quick and simple to use as possible, for both professional engineers and non-technical users. The inputs required have been boiled down to the most important and other factors have been pre-set in accordance with the Eurocode standards and normal windpost loading conditions.

The CivilWeb Windpost Design Spreadsheet requires the following inputs;

• The basic geometry of the masonry wall including wall height and length
• The lateral wind loading force
• The partial factor for wind loading and deflection limit (pre-set in accordance with the Eurocode)
• Basic windpost details including section type and support conditions (the spreadsheet includes full design information for all standard angle and channel sections)
• Windpost strength grade and modulus of elasticity (this is pre-set at 210,000N/mm2 in accordance with the Eurocode standards)
• Partial material factors (preset as 1.0 in accordance with the Eurocode standards)

The CivilWeb Windpost Design Spreadsheet uses these inputs to complete all the required calculations to check whether the chosen section is adequate or not in accordance with Eurocodes BS EN 1996-1-1 and BS EN 1993-1-1. The calculations completed automatically by the spreadsheet include;

• A check to verify the class of the cross section
• A check for the cross sections shear resistance
• A check for the bending resistance of the cross section
• A check on the lateral torsional buckling resistance of the cross section
• Finally a check on the expected deflection of the section under the design loads

The spreadsheet presents the results of these calculations in a unique and user friendly way. Each design check detailed above is shown as a utilisation factor. This factor shows the user exactly what percentage of the sections capacity is being used under the design conditions. A utilisation factor greater than 1.0 shows that the section is not suitable and a larger section is required.

A utilisation factor value of less than 1.0 shows that the section is suitable, with a value of 0.5 showing that the section is using only half its capacity, and perhaps a smaller section size would be more economical and better suited to the loading conditions. By also showing the utilisation factors in either green for suitable and red for unsuitable allows the designer to see at a glance whether the section is suitable, unsuitable or oversized.

For ease of use and for passing on to suppliers or contractors, the spreadsheet also draws a scale diagram of the chosen windpost section and includes full geometrical and design information in the results. This can simply be sent straight to the supplier so there is no confusion over the required steel section.

Windpost Design – Section Picker Tool

The CivilWeb Windpost Design Spreadsheet also includes a unique analysis feature we call the section picker tool. The spreadsheet is powerful enough to analyse the results for all the sections included in the spreadsheet database at once. The section picker is then able to order the results of this analysis showing the most suitable sections for any particular steel strength along with their utilisation factors for each design check.

Using this tool the designer can simply enter the design conditions and see instantly the ten sections best suited to the task for any steel strength. There is no tedious time consuming process of trying multiple section sizes in multiple steel strengths in order to find a section which closely matches the design conditions. The user simply picks one of the suggested sections and an optimised section design is complete in seconds.

This feature is available nowhere else, and makes the CivilWeb Windpost Design Spreadsheet the quickest and easiest windpost design software available on the market today.

CivilWeb Windpost Design Spreadsheet

The CivilWeb Windpost Design Spreadsheet is a powerful but user friendly tool for the design of windposts to Eurocodes BS EN 1996-1-1 and BS EN 1993-1-1. The spreadsheet completes all the required calculations instantly and the unique section picker tool allows either a professional engineer or a non-technical user to complete an optimised windpost design in minutes.

Buy the CivilWeb Windpost Design Spreadsheet now for only £19.99.

Or why not buy our best value full Masonry Design Suite including all ten of our Masonry Design Spreadsheets for only £49.99.