Strength Capacity of Masonry Wall Structures by the Equivalent Frame Method
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 10
Abstract
The structural assessment of large traditional and historical masonry buildings poses significant challenges due to the need for modeling complex geometries and nonlinear material behavior. Although sophisticated methods have been developed for the nonlinear analysis of such structural systems—mostly based on two- or three-dimensional finite element modeling—they can hardly be used for practical purposes due to very large computational requirements. This paper presents an alternate method, specifically developed for efficiently simulating the service and ultimate responses of structural systems composed of masonry load-bearing walls. Its efficiency stems from the technique adopted to model the wall panels, based on treating them as equivalent frame systems composed of one-dimensional elements. In addition, biaxial constitutive equations are included to account for the relevant aspects of the nonlinear response of the material. In spite of the numerical efficiency of the method, it is able to obtain accurate predictions of the overall response of masonry buildings and their failure condition. The method has been successfully used for the analysis of actual historical large constructions and for simulating possible operations of repair and restoration.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The numerical tools used in the study were developed as a part of the research project PB-97-0785 “Mechanical characterization of traditional and historical constructions built on stone block or brick masonry”, funded by Dirección General de Enseñanza Superior (DGES) of the Spanish Government.
References
D’Asdia, P., Palombini, F., and Viskovic, A. (1992). “A model of inclined struts with variable cross section for the analysis of masonry walls.” Dip. Ingegneria Strutturale e Geotecnica, Univ. di Roma “La Sapienza,” Rome (in Italian).
Karantoni, F. V., and Fardis, M. N. (1992). “Effectiveness of seismic strengthening techniques for masonry buildings.” J. Struct. Eng. 118(7), 1884–1902.
Kent, D. C., and Park, R. (1971). “Flexural members with confined concrete.” J. Struct. Div. ASCE 97(ST7), 1969–1990.
Kwan, A. K. H. (1991) “Analysis of coupled wall/frame structures by frame method with shear deformation allowed.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., Struct. Build. 91, 273–297.
Lourenço, P. B., Rots, J. G., and Blaauwendraad, J. (1998). “Continuum model for masonry: Parameter estimation and validation.” J. Struct. Eng. 124(6), 642–652.
Marí, A. R. (1987) “One-dimensional models for the non-linear, time-dependent analysis of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures.” Univ. Politécnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
Molins, C., and Roca, P. (1998). “Capacity of masonry arches and spatial frames.” J. Struct. Eng. 124(6), 653–663.
Molins, C., Roca, P., and Barbat, A. H. (1998) “Flexibility-based linear dynamic analysis of complex structures with curved 3D members.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn. 27, 731–747.
Neuenhofer, A., and Filippou, F. C. (1998). “Geometrically nonlinear flexibility-based frame finite element.” J. Struct. Eng. 124(6), 704–711.
Pegon, P., Pinto, A. V., and Anthoine, A. (1995), “Numerical simulation of historical buildings subjected to earthquake loading.” Structural studies of historical buildings IV, Computational Mechanics Publications, Southampton, U.K., Vol. 2, 29–36.
Riguetti, G. (1986) “Calculation of wall masonry structures in seismic zones. Part 2 ” Constr. Laterizio, August, 22–28 (in Italian).
Sinha, B. P., Maurenbrecher H. P., and Hendry, A. W. (1971). “Model and full-scale tests on a five-story cross-wall structure under lateral loading.” Proc., 2nd Int. Bric Masonry Conf., Stoke-on-Trent, U.K.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 10 • October 2005
Pages: 1601 - 1610
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 30, 1999
Accepted: Apr 23, 2004
Published online: Oct 1, 2005
Published in print: Oct 2005
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Marc I. Hoit
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.