UFC 4-023-03
25 January 2005
3-2.3.3.2 Internal Load-Bearing Walls.
For structures with underground parking or uncontrolled public ground floor
areas, remove internal load-bearing walls near the middle of the short side, near the
middle of the long side and at the corner of the uncontrolled space, as shown in Figure
3-6. The removed wall extends from the floor of the underground parking area or
uncontrolled public ground floor area to the next floor (i.e., a one story height must be
removed). Also remove internal load-bearing walls at other critical locations within the
uncontrolled public access area, as determined with engineering judgment. For each
plan location, the AP analyses are only performed for the load-bearing walls on the
ground floor or parking area floor and not for all stories in the structure. The length of
the removed wall section is specified in Section 3-2.3.3.3. The designer must use
engineering judgment to shift the location of the removed wall section by a maximum of
the wall height if that creates a worse case scenario.
3-2.3.3.3 Length of Removed Load-Bearing Walls.
For load-bearing walls on the sides of the building, remove a length of wall
equal to two times the wall height but not less than the distance between expansion or
control joints. For load-bearing walls at the corner, remove a length of wall equal to the
wall height in each direction but not less than the distance between expansion or control
joints. For the situation in which the external wall is not load-bearing but the intersecting
internal wall is load-bearing, as shown in the bottom of Figure 3-5, remove a width of
the load-bearing wall equal to the wall height.
Figure 3-5 Location of External Load-Bearing Wall Removal for MLOP and HLOP
Structures
3-9
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