Limit and Nonlinear Elastic Analyses of Masonry Structures: an overview

This seminar is a critical presentation of our researches over the last ten years on the mechanical response of masonry arches and vaults. We focus on a study of masonry arches conducted in parallel via both nonlinear elastic and limit analyses. The one-dimensional elastic model for masonry arches incorporates a simple but effective nonlinear constitutive law. In turn, collapse analysis is performed by the so-called ‘method of stability areas’, originally proposed by Durand-Claye in 1867. Rather than offering two alternative paths, the approaches may be considered complementary points of view on the same problem. In order to illustrate the main issues we focus on some examples: possible failure mechanisms for masonry arches; search for explicit solutions to the equilibrium problem of a depressed arch; arches of different shapes subject to their own weight and the weight of a superimposed wall; arch-wall-piers systems.