It is conservative and perhaps most common to design multi-story Tilt-Up panels as simple spans between supports while accumulating axial loads from the stories above. However the lateral wind and seismic forces transferred from the panels to the floors and roof should be calculated using a continuous span. A simple span assumption will result in an unconservative calculated connection force. The engineer should also make sure not to forget to add the connection force due to thermal bowing restraint at the floor connections.

When designing multi-story panels one must also consider the design of the panel for loads during construction. Typically when a panel is on braces, the span of the panel to the brace point is probably considerably more than the final design span. This condition many times will control the reinforcing design of multi-story panels.