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Civil-Comp Proceedings
ISSN 1759-3433
CCP: 108
PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CIVIL, STRUCTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING COMPUTING
Edited by: J. Kruis, Y. Tsompanakis and B.H.V. Topping
Paper 72

An Experimental-Numerical Procedure for the Identification of Mesoscale Material Properties for Brick-Masonry

C. Chisari1, L. Macorini2, C. Amadio1 and B.A. Izzuddin2

1Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Italy
2Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom

Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper
C. Chisari, L. Macorini, C. Amadio, B.A. Izzuddin, "An Experimental-Numerical Procedure for the Identification of Mesoscale Material Properties for Brick-Masonry", in J. Kruis, Y. Tsompanakis, B.H.V. Topping, (Editors), "Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing", Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, UK, Paper 72, 2015. doi:10.4203/ccp.108.72
Keywords: masonry structures, in-situ test, inverse analysis, flat-jack testing, genetic algorithms.

Summary
The response of unreinforced masonry is very complex because of its inherent heterogeneity and nonlinear behaviour, which is governed by the interaction between masonry units and mortar joints. Mesoscale modelling can provide a very good representation of the actual response of masonry structures when using adequate material parameters for the individual components. An attractive strategy has been recently developed by the authors for the calibration of the mesoscale material properties. This is based upon the inverse analysis of the macroscale behaviour of a part of the structure subjected to the pressures exerted by two flat-jacks arranged along the mortar bed joints and the perpendicular direction. Thus far this strategy has been applied only to pseudo-experimental data, whereas in this paper it is enhanced considering the experimental results obtained in physical laboratory tests on running bond masonry walls. It is demonstrated that inverse analysis of the measured experimental displacement field allows the estimation of the elastic properties, the cohesion and the friction angle for the interface elements used in the mesoscale description to represent mortar joints.

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