Influence of Stereotomy on Discrete Approaches Applied to an Ancient Church in Muccia, Italy

This work evaluated the remarkable influence of stereotomy on discrete methods adopted for the dynamic response of an ancient masonry structure. The historic building used as a case study is the Church of Santa Maria of Varano in Muccia, in the province of Macerata, Italy, which was exposed to the severe seismic sequence that hit Central Italy in 2016, namely the major events of Accumoli, Visso, and Norcia. The structure was modeled using the actual stereotomy of blocks and three hypothetical arrangements of blocks of the masonry walls to investigate the existing crack pattern and vulnerabilities of the church. Sensitivity analyses were performed using the nonsmooth contact dynamics and discrete-element methods. These novel approaches suitably reproduced complex behaviors, considering large displacements and complete block separations, which is useful for upcoming retrofitting works.