Seismic capacity of URM buttressed arches

The current paper provides a contribution for the evaluation of horizontal capacity of masonry buttressed arches through the Heyman’s limit analysis. The proposed numerical procedure is based on the non-linear programming technique that is used to find both the minimum value of horizontal collapse multiplier  (objective function) and the corresponding values of angles that define the position of hinges in the arch (boundary conditions). The numerical procedure here in proposed can be easily implemented in any computer algebra system, such as Excel, MATLAB or Wolfram Mathematica. The reliability of the proposed procedure has been assessed through the comparison with the real response of two masonry arches of S. Maria delle Grazie church in Navelli (AQ) during the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. The comparison has shown a good agreement in terms of failure mechanism, of hinges positions and of horizontal capacity, showing the reliability of the assessment methodology illustrated in the paper.