A coupled two-scale computational approach for masonry out-of-plane failure

The formulation of macroscopic constitutive laws for the behaviour of masonry is a complex task, due to its strongly heterogeneous microstructure which influences its overall mechanical behaviour. This has triggered in the past decade the formulation of homogenisation methods, both for linear and damaging behaviours, and for in and out-of-plane loading conditions.

This contribution deals with two-scale computational framework, in which the material behaviour of a structural masonry shell is sampled by resorting to computational homogenisation applied on a microstructural description of masonry constituents. The structural damaging behaviour is modelled by incorporating localising hinges in a coarse scale thin shell description. The appearance, the orientation and the softening mechanical response of these hinges are directly deduced from the computational homogenisation scheme. This procedure allows incorporating naturally the anisotropic damaging effects of the masonry material degradation. The contribution will illustrate the two-scale results by comparing them to full fine scale models.