Extended conditions of application of DIN EN 1996-3/NA for high walls / Erweiterung des Anwendungsbereichs von DIN EN 1996-3/NA für hohe Wände

According to Eurocode 6, unreinforced masonry walls can be designed using different verification methods, whereby the simplified calculation methods are contained in Part 3 of DIN EN 1996 [1]. If the associated application limits and boundary conditions are fulfilled, a large part of the usual problems occurring in masonry construction can be dealt with without great effort. A limiting condition for the application of the simplified calculation methods is a maximum clear wall height of h = 2.75 m or h = 12 · t. Changes in user requirements for modern buildings with masonry walls nowadays often require greater wall heights, wherefore a verification according to the general rules from DIN EN 1996-1-1/NA [2] is necessary. This means a considerably higher effort for the structural engineer.
A considerable amount of calculations was done to verify whether the results of the simplified calculation methods are also valid for greater wall heights. The results were transferred into a consistent standardization proposal with regard to extended application limits of DIN EN 1996-3/NA, which is contained in a new draft Amendment A3 for the National Application Document for Germany.