Experimental investigation and nonlinear FE analysis of historical masonry buildings – A case study

A comprehensive investigation into the seismic behaviour of a masonry vault belonging to an historical building located in the city of Yazd, was performed. Evaluation of load carrying capacity of this type of structures usually needs to characterize the mechanical properties of the elements. For this reason, at first, the mechanical properties of constitutive materials including, bricks, adobes, mortars, pier elements of adobe and a vault element of brick were determined using standard experimental tests. The specimens, as far as possible, were obtained from the original case study materials. Experimental investigation on the properties of pier and vault elements made of adobe and brick, respectively, was conducted using the concept of homogenization. The outcomes provided a comparative study on the characteristics of historical building materials. The results of samples tested, reconfirmed the very low tensile bond strength to be expected of masonry elements, emphasizing the inability of these types of materials to resist a tensile force. Finally, the mechanical properties of pier and vault testing samples were implemented in a nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis of the building, under lateral loading, through macro-modelling concepts. The results have provided a basic understanding of the lateral performance and failure mode of unreinforced historical buildings.