- The development of a simplified modeling technique for the finite element analysis of reinforced masonry shear walls
- M.I. Abdellatef
- Book Title / Journal: M.Sc. Thesis
- Year: 2011 , Volume: , Series:
- Structure types ; Masonry Structures
- Keywords: shear walls ; Finite element analysis ; Masonry Structures
- Description
- Reinforced masonry shear walls are structural elements that are commonly used in construction. It is important to properly model their contribution to the strength and stiffness of the structures in which they appear. Analysts typically represent these shear walls with deep beam elements within building models. However, the assumption that a shear wall behaves as a deep beam breaks down when shear failure occurs, and cracking starts to dominate the behavior of the wall. There is a need to develop a finite element model of these shear walls that is accurate but simple enough to be included as a part of a full building model.
A 2-D masonry shear wall model was developed to meet these requirements. To make it
applicable within standard structural analysis software, the model does not require a detailed
representation of each component of the wall separately. Instead, the reinforcing is smeared and
overlaid with a plane stress masonry element. Plasticity is assumed for the steel and
cracking/damage is assumed for the masonry. Reductions in masonry stiffness were applied to
account for initial cracks, and artificial damping was added to stabilize the solution process after the
occurrence of masonry damage.
Data from two experimental test programs were used to verify the proposed modeling technique along with comparisons with detailed finite element models. It was found that the behavior of the simplified models was quite close to that of the detailed finite element models for all cases considered. When compared to the peak values of cyclic load of the experimental specimens, it was found that initial stiffness, peak load, and displacement at final failure were well predicted although, for short shear walls which are dominated by shear failure of the masonry, damage did not evolve as rapidly in the finite element models as was observed in the experimental specimens. The proposed modeling technique was therefore shown to reasonably predict reinforced masonry shear wall behavior, even with coarse meshing and smeared steel reinforcement, regardless of the wall aspect ratio, amount of axial vertical load applied to the wall, and reinforcement ratio.
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- Fundamental Considerations for the Finite Element Analysis of Shell Structures
- D. Chapelle ; K.J. Bathe
- Book Title / Journal: Computers & Structures
- Year: 1998 , Volume: 66 , Series:
- Structural Analysis
- Keywords: shells ; Finite element analysis
- Description
- The objective in this paper is to present fundamental considerations regarding the finite element analysis of shell structures. First, we review some well-known results regarding the asymptotic
behaviour of a shell mathematical model. When the thickness becomes small, the shell behaviour falls
into one of two dramatically different categories; namely, the membrane-dominated and bending-dominated cases. The shell geometry and boundary conditions decide into which category the shell structure falls, and a seemingly small change in these conditions can result into a change of category and hence into a dramatically different shell behaviour.
An effective finite element scheme should be applicable to both categories of shell behaviour and the rate of convergence in either case should be optimal and independent of the shell thickness. Such a finite element scheme is difficult to achieve but it is important that existing procedures be analysed and measured with due regard to these considerations. To this end, we present theoretical considerations and we propose appropriate shell analysis test cases for numerical evaluations.
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