No abstract

21Masonry is a composite material characterized by a large variability of its constituent materials. 22The materials used, the quality of the bond and variations in the standard of workmanship 23 significantly affect the mechanical performance of the overall masonry structure. Masonry

No abstract

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence Newcastle University ePrints -eprint.ncl.ac.uk Sarhosis V, Sheng Y. Identification of material parameters for low bond strength masonry.Engineering Structures 2014, 60, 100-110.

This paper presents the development of a three dimensional computational model, based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM), which was used to investigate the effect of the angle of skew on the load carrying capacity of twenty-eight different in geometry single span stone masonry arches. Each stone of the arch was represented as a distinct block. Mortar joints were modelled as zero thickness interfaces which can open and close depending on the magnitude and direction of the stresses applied to them. The variables investigated were the arch span, the span : rise ratio and the skew angle. At each arch, a full width vertical line load was applied incrementally to the extrados at quarter span until collapse. At each load increment, the crack development and vertical deflection profile was recorded. The results compared with similar "square" (or regular) arches. From the results analysis, it was found that an increase in the angle of skew will increase the twisting behaviour of the arch and will eventually cause failure to occur at a lower load. Also, the effect of the angle of skew on the ultimate load that the masonry arch can carry is more significant for segmental arches than circular one.

No abstract

including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request.Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering manuscript No.

Masonry arch bridges form a significant portion of the European transport infrastructure network. Many of these bridges are relatively old but still in service. Increasing vehicle loads and speeds have highlighted the need for reliable estimates of their service condition. Past research demonstrated that load-carrying capacity of a masonry arch bridge is a function of the soil response. However, today, the approaches used for the simulation of soil in masonry arch bridges are over-simplistic and most of them do not take into account the soil-structure interaction phenomena. This paper presents a novel modelling approach, based on the discrete element method, for the simulation of backfill material in masonry arch bridges. According to the method, bricks in the barrel vault are simulated as an assembly of distinct blocks separated by zero thickness interfaces at each mortar joint. Backfill is represented as an assemblage of densely packed discrete irregular deformable particles, here called "inner-backfill particles". A series of computational models were developed and their results are compared against fullscale experimental test results. A good agreement between the experimental and the numerical results was obtained which demonstrates the huge potential of this novel modelling approach. One of the major advantages of the proposed approach is its ability to simulate the initiation and propagation of cracking in the backfill and arch ring with the application of the external load. It is envisaged that the current modelling approach can be used by bridge assessment engineers for understanding soil pressures and load distribution on the backfill and arch ring and thus develop serviceability criteria for masonry arch bridges of their care.