A strategy for generating pushover curves of block assemblies including post-peak branch using the discrete element method

• Pushover analyses are often used to evaluate the seismic performance of a structure. They give an estimate of the ultimate displacement a structure can undergo, as well as of the residual resisting forces in the post-peak response. When modelling masonry structures composed of multiple blocks, obtaining the post-peak branch of the pushover curve can be difficult with a classic displacement-control strategy. This paper describes a strategy designed to compute this branch for multi-block systems subjected to a given pattern of forces, without the need to apply a displacement-control algorithm. The strategy is general, therefore straightforwardly implementable in different software tools and applicable to complex block assemblies. In the present work, it is implemented in two different DEM software, namely LMCG90 and UDEC, and tested on a benchmark problem for evaluating the in-plane response of masonry walls.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Geofysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Geophysics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

masonry

URM

discrete elements

displacement-control

nonlinear response

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)