Parametric Study of Orthotropic Masonry Walls under Static and Dynamic Loading

The paper presents a parametric study of unreinforced and confined masonry walls with orthotropic properties under in-plane static and dynamic loading. A previously developed FEM model was extended to simulate the behaviour of the orthotropic masonry and was used to perform a series of analyses. The orthotropic behaviour of masonry is simulated with a simplified constitutive model. The influence of the orthotropy of masonry on the behaviour of two-storey walls (with different lengths and qualities of the masonry) was investigated. The results of the analysis show that the bearing capacity and the displacements of the wall, as well as the stresses in the masonry, concrete and reinforcement depend significantly on the degree of orthotropy of the masonry. As the degree of orthotropy increases, the differences in the parameters compared to isotropic masonry increase. The influence of the orthotropy of the masonry is greater under dynamic loading than under static loading. The influence of orthotropy is greater for stiff masonry than for soft masonry, and for confined masonry than for unreinforced masonry.