1. Reinforced masonry working stress design of flexural members uses assumptions including plane sections remaining plane after bending and neglecting all masonry in tension.
2. The balanced condition occurs when the extreme fiber stress in the masonry equals the allowable compressive stress and the tensile stress in reinforcement equals the allowable tensile stress.
3. Shear design of reinforced masonry considers mechanisms such as dowel action and the ability of shear reinforcement to restrict crack growth and resist tensile stresses. Allowable shear stresses depend on the presence of shear reinforcement.