Finite element modelling for seismic assessment of historic masonry buildings

The chapter focused the attention to some aspects of numerical modelling, to offer a contribution to the analysis of historic masonry buildings under seismic actions. The chapter is hence organized as follows. In the first part a numerical model used to replicate the nonlinear behaviour of the masonry is described. The model is quite general and is herein discussed with specific reference to the commercial finite element code ANSYS (1998). The identification of the required parameters is discussed using the results of experimental tests performed in old masonry buildings. In a second part the above approach is employed to build a finite element model of two relevant case studies and to analyse their seismic behaviour. The two examples illustrate the use of numerical analyses to face practical engineering problems in the field of seismic assessment of historic constructions.