Numerical Verification of the Elastic-Plastic Menétrey-William Model (M-W-3) for Masonry Shear Walls Made of Calcium Silicate Masonry Units

Abstract

This paper is a continuation of the author’s papers on numerical verification of masonry structures. It describes the proposed method of validating the elastic and plastic Menétrey-Willam model (M-W-3) implemented in the ATENA software. Material parameters of the model were determined from triaxial tests on masonry units. This paper presents a practical use of the calibrated numerical model for stiffening walls. Flat, four-node finite elements (2D model) were used with two degrees of freedom for each node. Simulation covered stiffening walls of various length (l = 4.5 m and 2.25 m), height of 2.45 m, and thickness of 0.18 m. Sequential loading in two stages was performed on walls. Precompression stresses σ_c of 0.1; 0.75 and 1.5 N/mm² were applied in the first stage, and walls were exposed to monotonic horizontal shearing in the second stage. Calculations were performed at the plane stress (σ₁≠0, σ₁≠0, σ₃=0). The obtained calculations were compared with results for unreinforced walls made of calcium silicate masonry units tested under the identical initial-boundary conditions. The relationship between shear stress and non-dilatational strain angle and values of cracking and failure stresses were compared. Calculations showed that shear stresses at the time of cracking demonstrated the closest similarity. The biggest differences occurred for deformation at the moment of destruction.