Advanced Numerical Modelling of Masonry Arches Reinforced With SRG

An efficient and simple numerical strategy for the study of masonry arches reinforced with SRG, that can be adopted in common practice, is presented. Non-linearities are concentrated in the mortar joint and at the interface between support and SRG, both modeled with either elastic perfectly fragile or elastic perfectly plastic trusses; bricks and reinforcement are meshed with four node rigid elements. The aim is to simulate the possible SRG debonding and the inelastic behavior of the joints both in bending and in shear (mode 1 and 2 respectively). Three distinctive non-linear models are used to simulate the behavior at the interface between support and the SRG: the first with a single elastic perfectly brittle truss, the second with two in parallel elastic perfectly brittle trusses and the third with three in parallel trusses, two of which elastic perfectly fragile and one elastic perfectly plastic. The trusses are placed between the substrate and the reinforcement. For mortar joints, the ultimate tangential strength is evaluated considering that in tension it behaves following a constitutive law that is elastic perfectly brittle while in compression it is infinitely elastic. A Mohr Coulomb failure criterion is assumed with an accurate friction angle which remains constant through the deformation process. The numerical strategy is tested on an arch made by brick and strengthened with SRG. The validation is carried out against both some experimental results obtained in situ and existing numerical models available in the literature for the same arch. From a careful analysis of the results obtained in terms of global load-displacement curves and from a complete statement of the non-linearities that develop in the model, the simplicity and consistency of the method offered are evaluated.