Dynamics and failure mechanisms of ancient masonry churches subjected to seismic actions by using the NSCD method: the case of the medieval church of S. Maria in Portuno

The Non-Smooth Contact Dynamics method (NSCD), implemented in the LMGC90 code, has been applied to the study of the seismic response of a medieval church, the S. Maria in Portuno’s Church at Corinaldo (AN, Italy). According to this model, the church masonry has been modelled as a system of rigid blocks, whose sliding motions are governed by the Signorini’s impenetrability condition and by the dry-friction Coulomb’s law. The NSCD method has proved to be a powerful tool for investigating the dynamics induced by ground seismic accelerations. Indeed the numerical results have given a deep insight into the seismic vulnerability of the church, highlighting several possible failure mechanisms. Moreover, the influence of the friction coefficient, which is related to the quality of the mortar, and the effects of connections between adjacent walls have been investigated.