NUMERICAL MODELLING OF MASONRY ARCHES STRENGTHENED WITH SFRM
Authors/Creators
- 1. Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR) University of Catania
- 2. Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padua
- 3. Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Lulea University of Technology
Description
The adoption of effective strengthening techniques of historical constructions is one
of the most widely debated aspects in structural engineering. Within this topic, the application
of steel fiber reinforced mortar (SFRM) has been recently proposed as a low invasive and
effective way to obtain a considerable structural benefit in the safety of existing masonry
structure. To this purpose, in this paper the experimental results obtained on a circular masonry
arches are presented. The considered specimens, subjected to a vertical increasing static load,
is tested in the unstrengthened and strengthened configurations, and is part of a wider
experimental campaign. After presenting and discussing the experimental results, they are
compared with those relative to numerical simulations conducted by means of a discrete macroelement
(DME) strategy, based on a simple mechanical scheme, able to model the nonlinear
behavior of masonry structures with a limited computational effort. Such an approach is here
extended to model the SFRM strengthening technique accounting for the main failure
mechanisms associated to the combined presence existing masonry and the additional
strengthening layer applied at the intrados of the arch. Numerical and experimental results
demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed retrofitting strategy both in terms of bearing capacity
and increase of ductility.