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If I have an 8" wide brick wall that weighs 80psf...?

and runs 44 feet, how can I determine the height? It sounds so simple, but for the life of me I can't figure it out.

Update:

Thanks guys, but I apparently left out some crucial information...this wall is to be added to an exitst. structure. The wall will sit atop a "normal weight" 8"concrete slab. The slab and "new wall" will be supported by a W12X65 that spans 44 ft. How high can the wall be?

All the information necessary to solve this, comes from the AISC manual; you can't work the problem without one. I got the problem wrong on a test and just wanted to se where I went wrong. Thanks for the help.

3 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    9 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    I'm not surprised you're puzzled here -- your units "psf" sound like pounds per square foot. This is a somewhat strange unit since density would be measured in pounds per cubic foot. All that one can assume is that the 8-inch width provides one of the length dimensions, and (height x length) provide the other two. In other words, the "square feet" are a measure of the facing area of the wall. In that case:

    Weight = ( 80 lbs/ft^2 ) ( 44 ft ) ( H ft ) = (3250 H) pounds

    So this would be a relation between weight and height, but until you specify one or the other that's about as far as we can go.

  • Tommy
    Lv 6
    9 years ago

    Look at a 12 in long section.

    Volume = Length x width x height

    V = 12 x 8 x h

    for the wall (8/12 ft) (80 lb /sf) = 53.3 lb/ft3 = wall weight / volume

    53.3 = w / 12 x 8 x h

    all you need is the unit weight of the brick for w (ie 1 cu ft brick weighs w lbs) then solve for h

  • 9 years ago

    psf usually means pounds per square foot, a unit of pressure.

    Do you mean pounds? pounds-force? The abbreviation is lbf.

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