Numerical model for nonlinear analysis of masonry walls

摘要

In this thesis a new proposal to represent the in-plane non-linear structural behaviour of masonry is presented. The proposal is explained and evaluated in order to determine its quality. The model has the ability to represent unreinforced, reinforced and confined masonry walls, considering different wall configurations. The wall configurations can take into account different dimensions for the wall and sizes for bricks and joints. Additionally, the model is able to consider different bricks, mortar and interface brick-mortar material properties. The most important point in the proposal is the implementation of the joint model. The joint model is defined as a special connection considering two non-linear springs (one longitudinal and one transversal to the joint connected in parallel) and one contact element (connected in series with the springs). This configuration is able to simulate almost all the failure possibilities in the joint. The bricks are implemented considering solid finite elements, taking into account a non-linear material behaviour. The model is implemented in ANSYS and then used to simulate the structural behaviour of a group of walls previously tested in laboratory in other research projects carried out in Europe (ESECMaSE) and Chile (U. of La Serena). For the seven walls considered, the results obtained with the proposed model have a good agreement with those obtained in the laboratory tests.