Abstract:
Nonhomogeneous material characteristics of masonry lead to complex fracture mechanisms,
which require substantial analysis regarding the influence of masonry constituents. In this context, this
study presents a discontinuum modeling strategy, based on the discrete element method, developed to
investigate the tensile fracture mechanism of masonry wallettes parallel to the bed joints considering
the inherent variation in the material properties. The applied numerical approach utilizes polyhedral
blocks to represent masonry and integrate the equations of motion explicitly to compute nodal
velocities for each block in the system. The mechanical interaction between the adjacent blocks is
computed at the active contact points, where the contact stresses are calculated and updated based
on the implemented contact constitutive models. In this research, di erent fracture mechanisms of
masonry wallettes under tension are explored developing at the unit–mortar interface and/or within
the units. The contact properties are determined based on certain statistical variations. Emphasis
is given to the influence of the material properties on the fracture mechanism and capacity of the
masonry assemblages. The results of the analysis reveal and quantify the importance of the contact
properties for unit and unit–mortar interfaces (e.g., tensile strength, cohesion, and friction coe cient)
in terms of capacity and corresponding fracture mechanism for masonry wallettes.