Applied Element Analysis of Intact and Deteriorated Masonry Structures Subjected to Soil Settlements

Assessing the potential damage to unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings under soil subsidence is a complex task, due to several factors associated with URM mechanical behaviour and soil-structure interaction. The remarkable variability in material properties of masonry may be further exacerbated by degradation processes, with repercussions on the overall structural response. Furthermore, both in-situ surveys and laboratory tests point out a major role being played by bond pattern effects and strength ratios between masonry constituents on crack formation, distribution and progression. Advanced numerical methods such as those based on masonry micro-modelling might be employed to realistically account for such factors, explicitly incorporating material discontinuities, fragmentation, and collision. In this paper, the Applied Element Method (AEM) is used to simulate the nonlinear structural response and damage of two tuff stone masonry walls with opening, which were experimentally tested under soil settlement in intact and deteriorated conditions. A satisfactory numerical-experimental agreement is found, allowing damage propagation phenomena as well as load redistributions between structural elements to be captured. Such results can then be used as a basis to perform further investigation considering more complex scenarios at structural scale.