After having concisely reviewed parts of the available literature regarding homogeneous and heterogeneous constitutive laws for masonry, two models based on Damage Mechanics and suitable for the analysis of masonry structures subjected to plane stress conditions are presented. In the first, masonry is considered as a homogeneous, orthotropic material. A limited domain, endowed with a suitable hardening/softening law, is defined according to piecewise linear functions; material damage is taken into account as a function of inelastic deformation. In the second model the overall mechanical properties of masonry are determined based on the properties of the components, for which a unilateral damage model is assumed. The numerical results given by these two models appear to be in good agreement with the experimental data related to masonry panels and buildings.

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