C.

Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

Statics of Masonry Solids and Structures

Prof. Christian Carloni

Part I
 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO STUDY?

 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

J. Heyman (1966)

1) Masonry cannot withstand tension

2) Masonry has infinite compressive strength
3) Elastic strain are negligible
4) Masonry has infinite shear strength
 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

RIGID NO-TENSION MODEL

Lets consider the elementary masonry unit

M T
We could think for
N example of an elemental
arch voussoir.

We consider vector s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voussoir
M
s = N
T
 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

RIGID NO-TENSION MODEL

We define the eccentricity e:

M
e=
N
Because of the 1st assumption (a note later):
i.e. masonry cannot withstand tension

h h
e
2 2
 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

RIGID NO-TENSION MODEL

From previous slide:

Because of the 1st assumption (a note later).
We should consider also the 2nd assumption:
Masonry has infinite compressive strength!
 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

RIGID NO-TENSION MODEL

We should represent s in a 3D plot but because T in not

bound we will use the N,M plane:

M M=Nh2

M=Nh2
Because of the 4th assumption we will always consider a
2D plot.
 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

RIGID NO-TENSION MODEL

An internal force configuration s is admissible if it will be

within the region defined by the two lines:

s Y
 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

RIGID NO-TENSION MODEL

An internal force state that lays on either limit lines (see the
concept of yielding surface in plasticity) is defined as:

h h
N 2 N 2
+
s0 = N s0 = N
T T


 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

RIGID NO-TENSION MODEL

Regarding the 3rd assumption we made, the only possible
deformation is a detachment.
The word deformation should be used with caution!

e =

is the relative rotation between the blocks of the

elementary masonry unit. is the relative displacement of
the center of gravity of the two blocks. is the relative
sliding of the two blocks.
 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

RIGID NO-TENSION MODEL

Lets consider the limit state:

h
N 2
+ h
s0 = N e0+ =
T 2
0

 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

RIGID NO-TENSION MODEL

Lets consider the limit state:

h
N 2
h e0+ and e0 are


s0 = N e0 = kinematically
T 2
0 admissible!


 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

RIGID NO-TENSION MODEL

We could compute the work done in the limit state:

s0+ e0+ = 0


h h
+ +
s e = N N T =0
2
0 0
2
0
Similarly:

s0 e0 = 0

No work is performed by s0+ and s0

 C. Carloni Mechanics of Historical Masonry Structures

RIGID NO-TENSION MODEL

s0+ and e0+ are

orthogonal!
Similarly s0 and e0