Modeling of reinforced masonry elements

In this paper, a micromechanical investigation for the evaluation of the ov erall response of the masonry material reinforced by innovative composite m aterials is developed. The masonry is regarded as a heterogeneous medium re alized by a regular arrangement of blocks into a matrix of mortar. A homoge nization procedure is developed for a one-dimensional reinforced masonry pr oblem, considering the progressive damage and plasticity of the mortar and the block. Moreover, the brittle failure of the fiber reinforced plastic re inforcement is accounted for. The delamination effect of the composite shee ts from the masonry element is also modeled. A numerical procedure, based o n the arc-length method with a backward-Euler integration of the evolutive equations, is developed to study the behavior of the reinforced masonry. Nu merical applications regarding the axial and the bending response of the ma terial are presented. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.