Effective Elastic Stiffness for Periodic Masonry Structures via Eigenstrain Homogenization

Abstract

The equivalent periodic eigenstrain method is used to evaluate the effective elastic stiffness of periodic masonry structure. An Eshelby tensor, for a unit cell of the periodic masonry structure, is derived analytically, and is combined with a strain energy approach to formulate the effective stiffness of the masonry. The new homogenization scheme is simple, one step, and closed form. The model described the periodicity and microstructure details of brick and mortar precisely and is compared to other analytical models. The improved accuracy of model prediction is validated through a finite-element simulation reported in literature.