Diagonal cracking failure mode in masonry wall micro approach Abaqus

Project Overview

In this Abaqus tutorial, a masonry wall consisting of bricks and mortar is modeled and analyzed under vertical loading and horizontal displacement.

The main objective of this simulation is to investigate the diagonal cracking failure mode that develops in the masonry wall during the analysis.

Masonry wall modeled under vertical load and horizontal displacement.

Masonry Wall Model

The model consists of individual bricks connected through mortar joints. The masonry wall is modeled using the Simplified Micro Approach.

In this approach, the bricks are modeled individually, while the mechanical behavior of the mortar is introduced through the interaction surfaces between adjacent bricks.

Simplified Micro Approach

In the Simplified Micro Approach, the mortar is not modeled as a separate solid part. Instead, its mechanical behavior is represented through an Interaction Property assigned to the surfaces between the bricks.

The interaction property includes Cohesive Behavior, Damage, and Damage Evolution to represent the behavior and degradation of the mortar joints during the analysis.

Loading Conditions

A vertical load is applied to the masonry wall while a horizontal displacement is imposed to produce the in-plane loading condition.

The combined vertical loading and horizontal displacement cause the masonry wall to undergo nonlinear deformation and progressive damage.

Failure Mode

As the analysis progresses, damage develops along the mortar joints between the bricks. A diagonal cracking failure mode gradually appears in the masonry wall.

The diagonal crack develops as a result of the applied vertical load and horizontal displacement and represents the main failure pattern observed in the simulation.

Diagonal cracking failure mode developed in the masonry wall.

Comparison with failure modes in masonry walls

The failure pattern obtained from the Abaqus simulation is compared with the corresponding failure modes in masonry walls.

This comparison allows the diagonal cracking pattern obtained from the numerical model to be evaluated against the observed behavior of the masonry wall.

Comparison between the Abaqus results and the real experimental results.

What You Will Learn

• How to model a masonry wall in Abaqus.
• How to model individual bricks.
• How to use the Micro Approach for masonry modeling.
• How to represent mortar using an Interaction Property.
• How to define Cohesive Behavior between bricks.
• How to define Damage behavior for mortar joints.
• How to define Damage Evolution.
• How to apply vertical loading to a masonry wall.
• How to apply horizontal displacement.
• How to investigate the failure mode of a masonry wall.
• How to obtain diagonal cracking in a masonry wall.
• How to compare Abaqus results with real results.

Key Features

• Masonry wall consisting of bricks and mortar.
• Micro Approach for masonry modeling.
• Individual brick modeling.
• Mortar represented through Interaction Property.
• Cohesive Behavior.
• Damage behavior.
• Damage Evolution.
• Vertical loading.
• Horizontal displacement.
• Diagonal cracking failure mode.
• Comparison between Abaqus and real results.
• CAE file.
• INP file.
• Step-by-step video tutorial.