Lateral behaviour of unreinforced masonry walls with different types of opening and effect of strengthening measures: A computational approach

The present paper addresses a sophisticated numerical modeling technique using a plasticity-based simplified micro-model method and the extended finite element method (XFEM) for simulating the nonlinear behaviour of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls with different types of sizes and positions of openings. The validity of this model has been proven by comparing the results subjected to a similar loading obtained by the experimental approach. Thereafter, the validated computational model is used to study the behaviour of the 3D URM wall model with different opening percentages. The effect of the position of the openings is also studied. Further, the load-displacement curves are drawn to provide a clear idea about the load-carrying capacity of the same URM walls. The hysteretic behaviour obtained in each models under cyclic loading gives an idea about the energy dissipation capacity of each of the models studied. The same walls are analyzed by strengthening the walls with two cost-effective materials, wire mesh and polypropylene bands. Since the study on lateral behaviour of masonry walls, particularly regarding the effect of area and the position of the opening, is extremely terse, the present detailed study is believed to be helpful in reducing the seismic vulnerability of actual masonry structures, which always have openings with different sizes and positions.