An automatic and fast procedure for the numerical analysis of curved masonry structures

Abstract

A fast and innovative discrete model approach coupled with homogenization procedure is here presented. The method is able to comply with the main features required for an accurate simulation of masonry curved elements, such as the orthotropy and the typical in- and-out-of-plane coupled behavior exhibited by masonry vaults. Furthermore, homogenization techniques directly implemented in the method allows reducing consistently the number of variables, leading to a fair combination of accuracy and reasonable computational time. The discrete model is an assembly of elastic units joint by non-linear interfaces. These latter are modeled with 3D linear brick elements and Concrete Damage Plasticity (CDP) is used for modeling the non-linear mechanical properties coming from the homogenization step. In order to overcome potential difficulties during the preparation of the model, the discretized mesh is obtained automatically by means of an ad-hoc script implemented by the Authors. The proposed approach is validated taking advantage of numerical data already available on a cloister vault. The numerical comparison shows the reliability of the method and its efficacy in the simulation of both global behavior and crack pattern, requiring a low computational effort.