Continuum modeling for masonry-like material accounting for bricks or blocks texture is discussed. The constitutive functions for the contact actions - expressed in terms of size, shape and arrangement of the block assembly - are derived within the framework of the linear elastic Cosserat and Cauchy theories. By varying some important geometrical parameters: the scale factor between the wall and the blocks size, the shape of the bricks and their arrangement, micropolar materials with particular internal constraints are obtained. In a few situations the constrained continuum behaves as a Cauchy continuum. In general, the Cauchy continuum does not provide a proper description of the brick masonry behaviour while the structured continuum model, accounting for the mutual blocks rotation, gives satisfactory results
A structured continuum model is formulated to describe the behaviour of block masonry modelled as distinct rigid body systems with elastic interfaces. A correspondence between the two motions is obtained by postulating a relationship between the displacement fields of the continuum and the discrete models. The constitutive functions for the dynamic actions of the continuum are derived by equating the power of the two models
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