Abstract
Numerical modelling of masonry structures is nowadays still an active research field, given a number of open issues related to preservation and restoration of historical constructions and the availability of computational tools that have become more and more refined. This work focuses on the analysis of settlement-induced failure patterns characterizing the in plane response of two-dimensional dry-joints masonry panels, which differ in terms of texture, geometry and settlement configuration. Brick-block masonry, interpreted as a jointed assembly of prismatic particles in dry contact, can be modelled as a discrete system of rigid blocks interacting through contact surfaces with no tensile strength and finite friction, modelled as zero thickness elasto-plastic Mohr-Coulomb interfaces. Different approaches and numerical models are adopted herein: Limit Analysis (LA), a discrete model DEM and a continuous Finite Element Model (FEM). Limit Analysis is able to provide fast and reliable results in terms of collapse multiplier and relative kinematics. In this work, a standard LA procedure is coded through Linearised Mathematical Programming to take into account sliding mechanisms through dilatant joints. Discrete models are particularly suitable to study historical masonry materials, where rigid bodies interacts between contact and friction. Here, a combined Finite/Discrete Element approach (FEM/DEM) is adopted. Finally, analyses are conducted through the Finite Element approach, resorting to a continuum anisotropic elastic-perfectly plastic constitutive model. Some selected case-studies have been investigated adopting the above mentioned models and numerical results have been interpreted to highlight the capability of the approaches to predict failure patterns for various geometrical features of the structure and settlement configurations.
Highlights
Masonry is one of the most ancient structural materials and constitutes a vast majority of the World’s architectural heritage
This work presents the comparison of failure patterns characterizing the response of dry joints masonry walls subjected to settlements
All the models have proven to be very efficient from a computational point of view and able to reproduce the collapse mechanisms, and they can be considered a useful tool with which to back-analyze real-scale problems in order to identify the causes of observed crack patterns or to predict the damage distribution when a settlement is expected to occur, as in the case of underground excavation or in case of natural triggering factors
Summary
Masonry is one of the most ancient structural materials and constitutes a vast majority of the World’s architectural heritage. The heterogeneous medium is modeled as a continuum, and the constitutive behavior is usually described through phenomenologically based mathematical relations in which degrading phenomena are the product of damage or friction variables In this case, macroscopic mechanical properties are more derived from standard experimental tests on small masonry specimens. Other multiscale strategies make use of different homogenization techniques based on the so-called Cauchy rule and its generalizations (Capecchi et al, 2011), allowing the derivation of generalized continua, such as micropolar continua able to properly represent scale effects, that, in masonry materials, are significant (Masiani and Trovalusci, 1996; Trovalusci and Masiani, 2003; Pau and Trovalusci, 2012; Fantuzzi et al, 2019; Leonetti et al, 2019) Due to their characteristics, masonry constructions have proven to be vulnerable to earthquakes and to structural settlements.
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