A numerical approach to the mechanical modeling of masonry vaults under seismic loading

The seismic vulnerability assessment of existing and historical masonry structures is an important priority topreserve them over time. Several mechanical models available in literature are based on the limit analysis and may require a relevant computationalburden. In this paper, an adaptive numerical method to analyse the seismic response of masonry vaults is presented. The approach is developed within Heyman's safe theorem and extends the funicular curve concept to the 3Dcase, by searching a 'safe' thrust surface within a design domain. The thrust surface is obtained by means of a Genetic algoritham applied to a refinement adaptive finite element model. This approach can be easily implemented in existing FEM codes and gives a useful tool to assess seismic vulnerability of curved masonry structures and to design selective reinforcements. It is validated against a case study of a vault available in literature. Some numerical results dealing with cloister vault subject to static and dynamic loads are given. © 1987 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.