Author(s)

A. Zavalani-Rossi

Abstract

An equilibrium approach to crack analysis of masonry walls A. Zavalani-Rossi Structural Engineering Department, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy Summary A finite element approach to the stress analysis of masonry walls in the presence of body forces is presented, based upon the assumption of fully equilibrated stress fieds. The goal is to obtain an accurate description of the stress field, to enforce the yield conditions on the basis of reliable estimates of the stresses and to model the cracks with no presence of ghost stresses. The peculiarities of the method are recalled and specific developments for the introduction of internal openings and cracks are proposed and discussed. 1 Introduction The stress analysis of masonry walls is often performed by taking recourse to standard finite element codes, generally based upon the description of piecewise continuous displacement fields. Orthotropic stress-strain relationships are adopted in order to model the elastic resp

Keywords