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Keywords: plain masonry, design, software benchmarking, software development, case study.

Summary

In Portugal, the structural design of buildings is essentially made using commercial computer codes, which are particularly focused on the design of reinforced concrete structures. Indeed, the conviction grew in Portugal that the construction of modern buildings would only be possible using reinforced concrete, which would probably be true given the poor quality of the masonry materials not so long ago.

However, brick-block integrated systems are currently already in the Portuguese market, which allow the use of masonry as a modern structural solution [1]. In addition, the loss of masonry as a structural material caused the stagnation of knowledge about the behaviour of these structures, which still represents a significant part of the built heritage. For this reason, the possible way to relearn how to design and build with masonry is through the import of knowledge in the field, particularly for the development of design tools.

In this line, a benchmarking process [2] of foreign computer codes for structural design of masonry buildings, particularly with plain (unreinforced) masonry, was recently performed at University of Minho, Portugal. As a result of this process, it was concluded that a pushover seismic analysis over the buildings modelled by macro-elements is an adequate approach for the development of a national software.

The original concept evolved from a spreadsheet to a more friendlier environment. Among the three models more prominent in the benchmarking process, namely RAN [3], 3Muri and SAM, the first is the one that could most easily be implemented. This is an approach based on the POR strategy [4] that considers an independent "storey mechanism", but allows the global response analysis of buildings to be captured, based on the assumption of a cumulative response of storeys and walls.

In this paper, the development process of the new software is presented, from a spreadsheet to a friendlier interface using the "Visual Basic .NET" language. Besides the assumptions of behaviour and equilibrium, modelling of stiffness and collapse mechanisms, the main features of the formulation adopted are presented. As a form of validation, a case study of a building is presented.

References

1: R. Marques, P.B. Lourenço, "Potentialities of construction and design of plain masonry buildings", Construção Magazine, submitted January 2009 (in Portuguese).
2: R. Marques, P.B. Lourenço, "Benchmarking of commercial software for the seismic assessment of masonry buildings", in "Intern. Seminar on Seismic Risk and Rehabilitation of Stone Masonry Housing", Horta, Portugal, 2008.
3: N. Augenti, A. Romano, "Seismic design of masonry buildings through macro-elements", in "14th Intern. Brick and Block Masonry Conference", Sydney, Australia, 2008.
4: M. Tomazevic, "The computer program POR", Report ZRMK, 1978, (in Slovenian).

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Front Page Browse CCP CSETS CTR IJRT Other Authors Search Purchase Guide FAQ Contact us	Civil-Comp Proceedings ISSN 1759-3433 CCP: 91 PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWELFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CIVIL, STRUCTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING COMPUTING Edited by: B.H.V. Topping, L.F. Costa Neves and R.C. Barros Paper 144 Development of Design Software for Plain Masonry Buildings R. Marques¹, J.P. Gouveia¹, P.B. Lourenço¹ and C. Leão² ¹Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, Portugal ²Flagsoft Lda., Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal doi:10.4203/ccp.91.144 purchase the full-text of this paper Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper , "Development of Design Software for Plain Masonry Buildings", in B.H.V. Topping, L.F. Costa Neves, R.C. Barros, (Editors), "Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing", Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, UK, Paper 144, 2009. doi:10.4203/ccp.91.144 Keywords: plain masonry, design, software benchmarking, software development, case study. Summary In Portugal, the structural design of buildings is essentially made using commercial computer codes, which are particularly focused on the design of reinforced concrete structures. Indeed, the conviction grew in Portugal that the construction of modern buildings would only be possible using reinforced concrete, which would probably be true given the poor quality of the masonry materials not so long ago. However, brick-block integrated systems are currently already in the Portuguese market, which allow the use of masonry as a modern structural solution [1]. In addition, the loss of masonry as a structural material caused the stagnation of knowledge about the behaviour of these structures, which still represents a significant part of the built heritage. For this reason, the possible way to relearn how to design and build with masonry is through the import of knowledge in the field, particularly for the development of design tools. In this line, a benchmarking process [2] of foreign computer codes for structural design of masonry buildings, particularly with plain (unreinforced) masonry, was recently performed at University of Minho, Portugal. As a result of this process, it was concluded that a pushover seismic analysis over the buildings modelled by macro-elements is an adequate approach for the development of a national software. The original concept evolved from a spreadsheet to a more friendlier environment. Among the three models more prominent in the benchmarking process, namely RAN [3], 3Muri and SAM, the first is the one that could most easily be implemented. This is an approach based on the POR strategy [4] that considers an independent "storey mechanism", but allows the global response analysis of buildings to be captured, based on the assumption of a cumulative response of storeys and walls. In this paper, the development process of the new software is presented, from a spreadsheet to a friendlier interface using the "Visual Basic .NET" language. Besides the assumptions of behaviour and equilibrium, modelling of stiffness and collapse mechanisms, the main features of the formulation adopted are presented. As a form of validation, a case study of a building is presented. References 1 R. Marques, P.B. Lourenço, "Potentialities of construction and design of plain masonry buildings", Construção Magazine, submitted January 2009 (in Portuguese). 2 R. Marques, P.B. Lourenço, "Benchmarking of commercial software for the seismic assessment of masonry buildings", in "Intern. Seminar on Seismic Risk and Rehabilitation of Stone Masonry Housing", Horta, Portugal, 2008. 3 N. Augenti, A. Romano, "Seismic design of masonry buildings through macro-elements", in "14th Intern. Brick and Block Masonry Conference", Sydney, Australia, 2008. 4 M. Tomazevic, "The computer program POR", Report ZRMK, 1978, (in Slovenian). purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20) go to the previous paper go to the next paper return to the table of contents return to the book description purchase this book (price £140 +P&P)
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