CALCULATING FIRE-RESISTANCE RATINGS OF CONCRETE MASONRY UNIT (CMU) WALLS

Abstract

This paper serves as a statement accompanying a capstone project for a degree in Information: Science and Technology. It details the work that went into creating the web page dedicated to helping specifications and codes writers to calculate fire resistance ratings of concrete masonry unit (CMU) walls. It briefly examines what a CMU wall is and the calculations that are involved in calculating fire-resistance ratings. The paper delves into how the site itself works, what the user can expect to see when first accessing the page and how to follow the steps in order to get the correct output. Without getting too technical, the paper also describes the four programming languages that were involved with coding the web page and what they handle in accordance with the page’s design and implementation. Finally, the paper concludes with an appendix containing the URL that will lead the reader to the web calculator and provides some practice problems that will allow the reader to test the calculator’s abilities.