Qualitative and quantitative approaches to highly local behaviors of historical masonry structures

Abstract

Many simple methods exist for the analysis of the global behaviour of masonry structures. However the analysis of local behaviour is elusive, especially when the bonding material is in disrepair and the bond strength is dependent from the friction. To explain the causes of this difficulty is far from the scope of the present work. However, since such behaviour can become a practical problem in specific cases, it is necessary to propose alternative models that approximate best local behaviour than the classical models usually employed. Hereinafter a combination of new'' and old approaches is proposed. This will show the nature of the phenomenon and will allow to progress in the development of models that can account for it. In the first phase the strongly random nature of the phenomenon is shown, if only qualitatively. This is achieved through the implementation and testing of photoelastic models. In the second phase an approximation to some qualitative results is attempted through numerical models.