Elastoplastic Finite Element analysis of masonry shear walls

Abstract

Masonry is the most important construction material in Turkey. It has been used for public and residential buildings in the past several thousand years. A great number of well-preserved old masonry structures still exist proving that this form of construction can successfully resist loads and environmental impact. Traditionally, most major buildings were solid walled structures with the walls bearing directly on the ground. Engineers work hard to convert the highly indeterminate, ambiguous and nonlinear behavior of historic masonry construction into something which can be understood with mathematical certainty. Therefore, practical and accurate structural analysis techniques are needed for the preserve the historical monuments as a huge cultural heritage. This paper is focused on Nonlinear Finite Element (NLFE) modeling of masonry shear walls at a macro-level taking the geometric arrangement of constituents. In this study, 3D elasto-plastic Finite Element (FE) analysis for the masonry walls that subjected to the combinations of vertical and lateral loads, are determined to find a practical method. An original meshing procedure is introduced to consider the orthotropy along the two natural directions of the masonry while the material is still assumed to be isotropic. The paper further examines parameter studies carried out to show that the relation suggested for cohesion values of mortar joint masonry can also be adopted for the masonry walls with dry joints employing compressive stresses on the top surface of the wall despite using its compressive strength. The accuracy of the proposed approach is verified by simulating a series of experiments reported in the literature. Those papers include shear tests on masonry walls with both dry and mortar joints by Raijmakers and Vermeltfoort, Oliveira and Roca. Comparisons between the predicted and measured failure loads of the walls confirm that it is possible to reproduce the fundamental features of masonry shear walls with the proposed meshing scheme. Finally, the proposed approach is shown to fit quite well the experimental load-deformation plots of masonry walls with both dry-and mortar joint under shearcompression fracture.

Numerical modelling of the in-plane loaded homogenized masonry walls

“…Masonry units and mortar are modelled as a single material in the macro modelling technique. The macro modelling technique was studied in [1] and [2]. Researches were created orthotropic damage models in studies [3] and [4].…”

Retrofitting of Cracked and Damaged Walls of Historical Buildings with Reinforced Concrete Materials

“…As shown in Fig. 2, this study adopted simplified and refined modeling [12]. The block was regarded as a continuous unit, and the interface was regarded as a mortar.…”

Implications of Arch Warp Altitudes on an Ancient Masonry Bridge under Ground Movements

“…In Türkiye, almost 1300 of these one-span MABs are in use. It is important to confirm the protection of these ancient bridges considering the dynamic changes in traffic, wind, and GMs, all of which involves finding the exact specifications of the dynamic features of these bridges [1][2][3][4]. For the construction of ancient masonry bridges, including various constructional parts such as quarry stonework, keystone, pavement, etc., it could be very important to study the influence of GMs.…”