Out-of-plane seismic response of a masonry facade using distinct element methods

Damage surveys after earthquakes showed that unreinforced masonry buildings are prone to local failure modes related to out-of-plane mechanisms of walls caused by the poor connection with the orthogonal walls. Otherwise, if the masonry element rises isolated it may be subject to overturning mechanisms rather than in-plane collapse. Nowadays, several methods can be used to evaluate collapses. These methods require quite a high computational cost, not beneficial to practitioners. Advanced numerical models can be applied, such as the discrete element and non-smooth contact dynamics methods, which treat the masonry as a set of either rigid or deformable blocks that can slide and impact each other. In this paper, an ancient (isolated) masonry wall is analysed, and the results provide the first comparison between two numerical models to estimate the influence of the intervention placed on the top of the wall.