Assessment of the seismic capacity of stone masonry

Abstract

Abstract. The application of discrete element models based on rigid block formulations to the analysis of masonry walls under horizontal out-of-plane loading is discussed. The problems raised by the representation of an irregular fabric by a simplified block pattern are addressed. A test problem provides a comparison of various regular and random block patterns, showing their influence on the failure loads. An example of application of a rigid block model to a wall capacity problem is presented.