Numerical modelling of brick masonry panels subject to lateral loadings

Abstract

A homogenization technique has been introduced to investigate the elastic-brittle behaviour of masonry panels subject to incremental lateral loading. For modelling the elastic behaviour of masonry, two successive steps of homogenization are used to obtain equivalent elastic properties. In the first step, brick units are homogenized with perpend joints to give equivalent elastic properties of a stacked system. This stacked system, in the second step, is then homogenized with the bed joints to obtain equivalent material properties for masonry. Tensile cracking is the only nonlinearity considered in this paper. Cracking is judged on the basis of stresses and strengths of each of the constituent materials. The cracks developed, if any, are also homogenized with the homogenized masonry and equivalent nonlinear stress-strain relationships for cracked masonry are derived. The constitutive model is incorporated in a three-dimensional finite element code. It has been verified and validated with experimental data on the response of a set of laterally loaded rectangular masonry panels with and without openings. It is considered that the model can be used for predicting the physical behaviour of laterally loaded panels of arbitrary geometry and boundary conditions.