Numerical Investigation of the Properties of Japanese Historical Brick Masonry Structures

The purpose of this study was to discretize a numerical model that can be used to assess the behavior of brick masonry with cement mortar. The behavior of unreinforced brick masonry (URM) was investigated through numerical simulation. A homogenous macro model was used in ABAQUS software to reproduce a previously performed diagonal compression test and horizontal loading test of a wall built of brick masonry with cement mortar. Material properties such as density, E, and Poisson’s ratio were input to the software. The objective of this study was to confirm Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio so that it can used in macro modeling. To confirm Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio the numerical modeling of diagonal compression test and horizontal loading test were conducted. The Poisson’s ratio obtained from transducers gave closer analytical results to experimental results compared to Poisson’s ratio obtained from Rosette’s strain gauge. From the numerical analysis of diagonal compression model and from contours in the model, it was observed that most of the compressive forces pass through the centre of the specimen and are only concentrated in the area directly under the load rather than distributing to the whole cross-sectional area of the specimen. The highest value of the modulus of elasticity (E = 6870 MPa) was obtained for samples loaded perpendicularly to horizontal joints (θ_<strut>=90°). For the horizontal loading test, the value of E = 5700 MPa was obtained from the analysis (θstrut = 67.43°). The values of shear modulus G (calculated from the diagonal transducers in diagonal compression test) are within the range of 8–17% of the value of modulus of elasticity E (prism compression test) for Nepalese and Japanese historical brick masonry.