Numerical Interpretation of Experimental Tests on Masonry Spandrels

Masonry spandrels play a relevant role on the global response of masonry walls to horizontal actions by providing a flexural coupling between the piers and inducing variations in their axial load, hence affecting their strength and displacement capacity. Despite such importance, the models provided by current building codes are vague and incomplete and experimental tests have been carried out only in the last decade. An extensive experimental campaign was carried out at DICEA, University of Florence in 2010 by Vignoli and Ortolani. To better understand the experimental behavior, extend the results to different geometries and conditions, and assist the development of analytical models, reliable numerical models are of great importance. This issue, however, is not trivial as the complexity of the material, particularly its inhomogeneity and anisotropy, render the choice of numerical schemes particularly complicate. Numerical masonry models contains a number of parameters – with different degrees of relation to the actual physics – that need calibration, which unavoidably introduces a degree of arbitrariness. Here, results of homogenized isotropic continuum modelling, discretized by finite elements are presented. Some preliminary discrete and multiscale models are also described. Advantages, limits, and perspectives of the modelling approaches are discussed.