The Prediction of Damage to Masonry Houses Caused by Foundation Movements

Abstract

Cracking failure in masonry houses founded on expansive soils has been widely reported throughout Australia and other countries. The cost associated with such damage is significant. The current codes of practice only provide broad guidance on the design principles of masonry under ground movement, due to a lack of research in the area. In this paper a numerical model has been developed to study the behaviour of masonry walls under footing movements as a result of expansive soils. The model is based on Distinct Element Method (DEM) which has been applied successfully by the authors to model the masonry walls under simulated (static) in-plane earthquake forces. The model is capable of predicting the crack initiation, propagation and failure modes of masonry walls under various footing movements (doming or dishing curvatures). The numerical solutions obtained from the distinct element analysis are validated by comparing the results with those obtained from the existing experiments.

Keywords

masonry footing movement numerical modelling distinct element method cracking

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