BRITISH STANDARDBS 5977-1:1981
Incorporating Amendment No. 1
Lintels —
Part 1: Method for assessment of load
UDC 624.072.22.042:692.299
BS5977-1:1981
This British Standard, having been prepared under the directionof the Elements and Components (of Diverse Materials) for Building Standards Committee, was published underthe authority of the Executive Board and comes intoeffect on 31 December 1981© BSI 01-1999The following BSI references relate to the work on this standard:Committee reference ECB/36Draft for comment 79/13060 DC
ISBN 0 580 12486 X
Cooperating organizations
The Elements and Components (of Diverse Materials) for Buildings Standards Committee, under whose direction this British Standard was prepared, consists of representatives from the following:The organizations marked with an asterisk in the above list, together with the following, were directly represented on the Technical Committee entrusted with the preparation of this British Standard:
Agrément Board*Health and Safety Executive Aluminium FederationIncorporated Association of Architects and Asbestos Cement Manufacturers’Surveyors Association LimitedInstitute of Building ControlBrick Development Association*Institute of Quality AssuranceBritish Ceramic Research AssociationInstitution of Municipal EngineersBritish Hardware FederationInstitution of Structural Engineers*British Plastics FederationMastic Asphalt Council and Employers’ British Precast Concrete Federation Ltd.*FederationBritish Steel Industry*National Council of Building Materials British Woodworking FederationProducersConsumer Standards Advisory Committee National Federation of Building Trades of BSIEmployersConvention of Scottish Local AuthoritiesNational Federation of Roofing ContractorsDepartment of the Environment (BuildingRoyal Institute of British Architects*Research Establishment, PrincesRoyal Institution of Chartered Surveyors*Risborough Laboratory)Scottish Development DepartmentDepartment of the Environment (Housing Society of Chemical Industryand Construction)Timber Research and DevelopmentDepartment of the Environment (PSA)*AssociationFlat Glass Manufacturers’ AssociationTrades Union CongressGlass and Glazing Federation Aerated Autoclaved Concrete Products Greater London Council AssociationInstitution of Building Control Officers Ltd. Aggregate Concrete Block AssociationNorth Wales Slate Quarries AssociationBritish Precast Concrete Federation Ltd.Steel Lintel Manufacturers’ AssociationDepartment of the Environment (Building Zinc Development AssociationResearch Establishment)
Individual expert
District Surveyors’ Association
Amendments issued since publication
Amd. No.Date of issueComments4796April 1985Indicated by a sideline in the margin
BS5977-1:1981
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Contents
PageCooperating organizations Inside front coverForeword ii1 Scope 12 References13 Definitions14 Basic principles 15 Limiting conditions 26 Loads 37 Assessment of load for lintel supporting wall without openings within the interaction zone 38 Assessment of load for lintel supporting wall with one or more openings within the interaction zone 39 Assessment of load for lintel directly supporting roof or point loads 3 Appendix A Use of assessed loads for design or selection of lintels 5Figure 1 — Load triangle and interaction zone 1Figure 2 — Dispersion of loads 2Figure 3 — Effect of openings above the lintel 4Figure 4 — Example showing the loads on lintel with floor, partition and opening over the lintel 5Figure 5 — Example showing the loads on lintels supporting walls 6Table 1 — Conversion factors for determining equivalent UDLs from assessed UDLs 7Table 2 — Conversion factors for determining equivalent UDLs from point loads close to the lintel 7Publications referred to Inside back cover
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Foreword
This British Standard has been prepared under the direction of the Elements and Components (of Diverse Materials) for Building Standards Committee and covers the design and use of all types of lintel (up to4.5m in span) in masonry. This Part describes a method for assessing the load carried by lintels. —
Part 2: of this standard is a specification for prefabricated lintels.
A British Standard does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a contract. Users of British Standards are responsible for their correct application.
Compliance with a British Standard does not of itself confer immunity from legal obligations.Summary of pages
This document comprises a front cover, an inside front cover, pages i and ii, pages1 to 8, an inside back cover and a back cover.This standard has been updated (see copyright date) and may have had amendments incorporated. This will be indicated in the amendment table on theinside front cover.
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1 Scope
This Part of BS5977 describes a method for assessing the load carried by lintels in masonry:a) where lintels span up to4.5m in single storey buildings and up to3.6m in two or three storey buildings in normal domestic use;
and
b) where no openings are wholly or partly within the load triangle (see
3.2
). Appendix A gives guidance on the use of assessed loads for design or selection of lintels, but does not cover assessment of the overall stability of the structure or the design of adjacent masonry.
NOTEIt has been assumed in the drafting of this Part that the assessment of load on a lintel is entrusted to chartered structural or civil engineers or other appropriately qualified persons, for whose guidance it has been prepared.The responsibility for providing adequate support for lintels and for compatibility between lintels and other parts of the supporting structure rests with the designer responsible for the overall stability of the building. For guidance, see BS 5628-1.
2 References
The titles of the standards publications referred to in this standard are listed on the inside back cover.
3 Definitions
For the purposes of this British Standard, the following definitions apply.
3.1 lintel
a beam spanning an opening in a wall
3.2 load triangle
a45° triangle having1.1times the clear span of the lintel as its base (seeFigure 1)
3.3 interaction zone
a zone outside the load triangle but within a60° triangle having1.1times the clear span of the lintel as its base (seeFigure 1)
3.4 application level
the top surface of the lintel under consideration (seeFigure 1)
3.5 application length
the length over which a load is distributed at the application level (seeFigure 2 andFigure 3)
3.6 equivalent uniformly distributed load (UDL)
that uniformly distributed load which gives the same bending moment at the centre of the span as the maximum bending moment anywhere in the span given by the actual loads
4 Basic principles
4.1 General.
Experience has shown that, subject to the conditions given in
4.2
, it is safe to design a lintel to carry less than the sum of the applied loads and the weight of masonry immediately above the lintel. The remainder is dispersed through the masonry on either side of the lintel.
Figure 1 — Load triangle and interaction zone
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4.2 Assumptions.
For the methods described in clauses
7
and
8
, it is assumed that:a) all the weight of the masonry within the load triangle is carried as a load on the lintel;b) any point or distributed loads applied to the masonry within the load triangle are dispersed at45° and carried by the lintel [seeFigure 2(a)];c) any point or distributed loads applied to the masonry within the interaction zone are reduced by50%, dispersed at45° and carried by the lintel [seeFigure 2(b)];d) the weight of masonry in the interaction zone is not carried by the lintel.
5 Limiting conditions
For the methods described in clauses
7
and
8
, it is assumed that the following limiting conditions are satisfied.a) The masonry is constructed following the recommendations of BS5628-3.b) The height of masonry above the lintel at mid-span is not less than0.6times the clear span of the lintel.c) The height of masonry above the supports is not less than600mm.d) The masonry is continuous within the area defined by the conditions given inb) andc).e) Where there is a single opening spanned by the lintel, the width of masonry on either side of the opening is not less than600mm or 0.2times the clear span of the lintel, whichever is the greater.
Figure 2 — Dispersion of loads
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3f) Where there are a series of openings at the level of the opening spanned by the lintel, the length of masonry between the external corner of the wall and the side of the adjacent opening is not less than600mm or0.2times the longest clear span, whichever is the greater.Where conditionsb), c)andd) are not satisfied, seeclause
9
.
6 Loads
The principal dead and imposed loads on a lintel arise from one or more of the following:a) masonry;b) floors;c) roofs;d) partitions;e) trimmer beams;f) self-weight of the lintel.
NOTEFor guidance, see BS 648 and BS6399-1.
7 Assessment of load for lintel supporting wall without openings within the interaction zone
Where the wall supported by the lintel has no other openings within the interaction zone[seeFigure 3(a)], the load carried by the lintel shall be assessed as follows.a) Take the load due to the masonry above the lintel to be the weight of masonry within the load triangle.b) Disperse any loads applied to the masonry within the load triangle at45° and consider them uniformly distributed at the application level [seeFigure 2(a)].c) Reduce all loads applied to the masonry within the interaction zone by50% and then disperse them at45° to produce a uniformly distributed load at the application level [seeFigure 2(b)].d) Neglect the weight of masonry in the interaction zone.e) Neglect loads applied outside the interaction zone.f) Add the above components of the applied loads to the self-weight of the lintel to obtain the total design load.
8 Assessment of load for lintel supporting wall with one or more openings within the interaction zone
8.1
Openings that do not intersect boundaries of the interaction zone shall be neglected [seeFigure 3(a)].
8.2
Where openings intersect the boundaries of the interaction zone, the effect is to apply an additional load to the lintel unless a single opening crosses the entire interaction zone [seeFigure 3(b) andFigure 3(c)].The intensity of load across the sectionxy shown inFigure 3(c) shall be assessed by taking into account all self-weight and applied loads on the wall above this level. The load across the sectionxy, which lies in the interaction zone, shall be halved before dispersing it at45° to the lintel below.If two openings intersect the interaction zone, the load shall be taken to act at the bottom of the lowest opening. All other loads shall be assessed as described in clause
7
.
NOTEExamples showing loads on lintels supporting walls with openings are given inFigure 4 andFigure 5.
9 Assessment of load for lintel directly supporting roof or point loads
Where the lintel directly supports a roof or a point load and in other cases where the conditionsb), c)ord) given in clause
5
are not satisfied, the load on the lintel shall be taken to be the full value of the imposed load, plus the self-weight of the lintel.
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Figure 3 — Effect of openings above the lintel
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Appendix A Use of assessed loads for design or selection of lintels
A.1 Design.
The maximum bending moment, shear and deflection of a lintel are derived from the assessed loads and the lintel designed using normal structural engineering principles.
A.2 Selection of lintels using published load-span tables.
For selection of lintels using published load-span tables, it may be convenient to convert triangular loads and part span loads to the equivalent uniformly distributed loads (see
3.6
) over the whole span. However, it should be noted that:a) equivalent uniformly distributed loads do not give correct shear forces; andb) bending moments calculated at mid-span by the use of equivalent uniformly distributed loads may occur in practice at other points in the span. Thus if lintels do not have a uniform bending strength throughout their length, it is essential to use equivalent uniformly distributed loads with discretion.Equivalent uniformly distributed loads for assessment of bending strength and deflection are calculated as follows:a) for triangular loads
W
e
= 1.33
W
b) for uniformly distributed loads over part of the length of the lintel, or for point loads
W
e
=
K
×
W
where
W
is the assessed load (see clauses
7
,
8
and
9
),
W
e
is the equivalent UDL,
K
is the appropriate factor taken fromTable 1orTable 2.
Figure 4 — Example showing the loads on lintel with floor, partition and openingoverthelintel
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© BSI 01-1999NOTEAll wall, floor and roof loads in the area bounded by vertical linesA andB are applied across the sectionXX to the lintel under consideration.
Figure 5 — Example showing the loads on lintels supporting walls
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Table 1 — Conversion factors for determining equivalent UDLs from assessed UDLs
a
Table 2 — Conversion factors for determining equivalent UDLs from point loadsclosetothelintel
a
nKnK
00.050.10.150.20.250.30.3330.350.40.450.50.550.600.650.6660.700.750.800.850.900.951.00 — 0.1900.3610.5130.6480.7660.8670.9260.9531.0241.0811.1251.1561.1761.1851.1851.1831.1721.1521.1241.0891.0471.0000.050.10.150.20.250.30.3330.350.40.450.50.550.600.650.6660.700.750.800.850.900.951.002.01.951.91.851.81.751.71.6671.651.61.551.51.451.401.351.3341.301.251.201.151.101.051.00
a
It is essential to read these tables in conjunction with
A.2
.
nKnK
0.050.100.150.200.250.380.721.021.281.500.300.350.400.450.501.681.821.921.982.00
a
It is essential to read these tables in conjunction with
A.2
.
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Publications referred to
BS 648,
Schedule of weights of building materials.
BS 5628,
Code of practice for use of masonry.
BS 5628-1,
Structural use of unreinforced masonry.
BS 5628-2,
Structural use of reinforced and prestressed masonry.
BS 5628-3,
Materials and components, design and workmanship.
BS 6399,
Design loading for buildings.
BS 6399-1,
Code of practice for dead and imposed loads.
CP 3,
Code of basic data for the design of buildings.
CP 121,
Walling.
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