Masonry compressive behavior simulation using detailed micro-modeling approach

This work focuses on the numerical prediction of the compressive response of masonry specimens by means of detailed micro-modeling technique. To simulate tensile cracking/compression crushing of the stone and separation/sliding at the stone-mortar interface, constitutive models used were concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) for units, Mohr-Coulomb (MC) criterion for mortar and surface-based cohesive behavior (SBCB) for the interface. Analysis was performed using Abaqus finite element software without any user-defined subroutines. Input parameters were obtained from experimental results and missing data were estimated through a literature review. Finally, the capability of the model to predict the compressive strength of masonry and the effect of block size expansion on strength were demonstrated by comparison with number of published experimental and analytical studies.