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Finite Element Analysis of Brick Masonry

Conference Paper · March 2019

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2nd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
11-12, March 2019

Finite Element Analysis of Brick Masonry

1,a
Faisal Rahman, 2,b Shahid Ali Khan, 3,c Saddiq Ur Rehman, 4,d Muhammad Shoaib Khan, 5,eUmair saleem.
6,f
Shehroze Mughal, 7,gShahid Ahmad, 8,hMuhammad Asim Aman
1
Assistant professor, Civil Engineering Department UET Peshawar
2,3,4
Researcher, Civil Engineering Department UET Peshawar
Email address: a faisal@uetpeshawar.edu.pk ,b 15pwciv4302@uetpeshawar.edu.pk,
c
15pwciv4335@uetpeshawar.edu.pk ,d 15pwciv4320@uetpeshawar.edu.pk , h Muhdasimaman@gmail.com

Abstract--In this study numerical modeling of
unconfined masonry is carried out using finite
element analysis software Abaqus. The model
selected for this study is concrete damaged
plasticity which has the ability to describe
compression and tension behavior in plastic range.
Modeling of masonry structure is done in three
diverse ways i.e. Micro-mechanical, Simplified-
micro mechanical and Macro-mechanical, out of
which macro-mechanical modeling was chosen,
where the constituents of masonry is homogenized
as an isotropic or anisotropic continuum. Testing
of model for different pre-compression ratios is
carried out and its load displacement curve and
energy versus time curve are plotted. At different
limit state the numerical and experimental results
are compared in term of drift ratio. The results of
numerical modeling and experimental modeling
are in good agreement at some point and deviates
from each other at other points.
Keyword—Abaqus, Masonry, continuum, load
displacement curve, isotropic, pre-compression.
I. INTRODUCTION
In early stages of masonry structures, designs
were normally based on a great exact insight
without scientific or prescient techniques. It
is still broadly utilized because of its ease of
construction and simplicity with low material
expense and more aesthetics. Masonry
structures are composite of two different
materials i.e. bricks and mortar in which
blocks (a building unit made of any specific
material e.g. brick) are laid upon each other
with binder or cohesive material i.e. mortar in
between them. Materials are distinguished
from each other by their mechanical
properties and have different response
towards loading. Brick masonry are used in
structure due to its loads transfer mechanism
but it has poor performance and needs
confinement when subjected to in plane
lateral loadings. This behavior causes the
masonry to damage and its response towards
such loadings has to be measured
experimentally and numerically to get
benefits from masonry. For this masonry
model is tested for various material and
mechanical properties experimentally to find
its response for different conditions and then
mathematical technique is used for numerical
modeling using software.
Backes (1985) studies the tensile behavior of
the brick masonry in direction of bed joints
and found out that stress displacement curve
show two different pattern which depends on
the tensile strength of the brick and the mortar
used. When used brick are stronger as
compared to mortar then stress displacement
curve show saw tooth pattern and when
mortar is stronger than brick the pattern is
straight crack shape.(6)
Schubert (1988) also studies the tensile
strength of the brick masonry by loading it in
two different directions i.e. perpendicular and
2nd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
11-12, March 2019

parallel to bed joints and concluded that the Abaqus is a finite element analysis
crack pattern depends on the strength of brick application which helps in solving the
and mortar (7). analysis problems ranges from simple linear
analysis to complex nonlinear analysis (1).
Predicting the complex behavior in any
Abaqus can solve problems that contain
computational framework is a significant
modeling of different elements by associating
challenge for researchers. The modern
the material and geometry of each element
development in technology has enabled the
and then selecting their interactions. This
researchers somehow to model the masonry
software chooses convergence tolerances and
with its complexities using Finite Element
load increments in nonlinear analyses. In this
Analysis. For the consideration of every brick
way Abaqus adjust the different conditions
and joint separately complex model can be
for insuring that an accurate result is obtained
created but in practice the use of simple
for complex and simple problems.
models are of more importance where less
analysis time is desired. For accurate, precise
and complex analysis developed, such as II. METHODOLOGY
ANSYS, LS-DYNA, ABAQUS, etc. In this
study ABAQUS has been chosen as a tool for This part represents modeling procedure of
the numerical modeling of masonry. masonry walls. The model for this study is an
isotropic homogeneous model which is
Modeling of masonry can be done by three considered as “concrete damaged plasticity
methods model” defined in ABAQUS.
A. Micro mechanical Model:
A. MODEL GEOMETRY
In this type of modeling continuum element In geometry modeling only one part of the
is used to describe masonry unit and mortar geometry (masonry wall) is defined and
and discontinues element is used to represent material properties of masonry are assigned
the potential crack in the interface of masonry to it. Similarly interaction properties are also
defined for this part. At the end masonry wall
B. Simplified micro mechanical Model
is meshed for which global seed of (0.05) is
In this type of modeling the bricks are assigned. Element type used is explicit 3D
stress element.
expended up to half of the mortar thickness.
The joints and unit mortar interface are
consider as discontinues elements which
results in direct bonding of units in potential
crack plane

C. Macro mechanical Model:

In this type unit, mortar and interface is Figure 1: Masonry Wall

homogenized as isotropic or anisotropic
continuum. The parameters of the
continuum can be found out from the test
specimen subjected to stress.
2nd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
11-12, March 2019

0.8
1 2ε ε2
fm = fi + (f′m − fi ) ( ε′ m − ε′m2 )
m m

(1)
εm −ε′m 2
2
fm = f′m + (fmid − f′m ) (ε )
mid −ε′m

(2)
f −f′
m εm −εmid
2( mid )( )
3 εmid −ε′ m
fm = fr + (fmid − fr )1.5 fmid −fr

(3)

Figure 2: Meshed Masonry Wall

Where,
B. MATERIALS: f′m is the crushing strength
Generally three types of properties are ε′m is the peak strain at the crushing strength
required for modeling the masonry wall.
1
These properties are density, plasticity and fi = 3 f′m (Initial stress)
concrete damaged plasticity. 1
fmid = 2 f′m (Mid stress)
The process of assigning these properties is
prescribed as under. 1
fr = 4 f′m (Rupture Stress)
i. PLASTICITY εmid Is 2.25 times greater than ε′m
The plastic parameters used in brick masonry
model are tabulated here in Table.1. All these
properties are assigned to the model in the
plasticity tab in ABAQUS.
Table 1: Plasticity Parameters

Dilation Eccentri Viscosity

fb0/fc0 K
Angle city Parameter

45 0.1 1.3 0.51 0

Figure 3: Compressive Stress-Strain Curve

ii. COMPRESSIVE BEHAVIOR
The compressive strength (4.79MPA)
calculated from an empirical equation is very
close to an experimental value (4.54MPA).
So the peak strain corresponding to
compressive strength can be determined
using empirical equation (2). For the stress
strain graph, the remaining values are
calculated using equation (1) to (3).
In case of compressive stresses outside
elastic range, a stress σc versus inelastic
deformation is defined as a tabular function
shown in Fig (4).
Plastic strains are determined automatically
by ABAQUS program from inelastic strains.
Compressive Elastic strains are determined
by an equation(4)
2nd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
11-12, March 2019

σc
εel
c0 = (4) 1.224175 0.00051 0
E0
2.256534 0.001097 0
Using equation (5) we can determine
inelastic deformation 3.097077 0.00176 0
el
εin
c = εc − εc0 (5) 3.745805 0.002501 0
Equation(6) are used to calculate plastic 4.202718 0.003318 0
deformation
4.541097 0.005182 0
pl dc σc
εc = εin
c − . (6) 4.422563 0.00623 0.026102
(1−dc ) E0

Figure (4) shows graphical representation of 4.112214 0.007354 0.094445

equation(4) to equation(6) 4.088188 0.007422 0.099736
0.908486 0.0134 0.799941

Figure II: Definition of Compressive

Inelastic Strains
Equation(7) is used to calculate the damaged
parameter(dc)
σc
dc = 1 − (7)
σ′c

The compressive strength of masonry is

represented by σ′c in equation(7)
Figure 5: Results of the Tensile Test Parallel
Table (2) represents inelastic strains and to the Bed Joint (Backes (1985)) (4)
damaged parameters corresponding to yield
stresses. It can be clearly seen that when the crack
propagates and opens then the friction forces
iii. TENSILE BEHAVIOR between the bricks develops and increases, so
Here the wall is under the shear compressive the masonry has also considerable strength
load and their behavior under such condition even after cracking starts and
is shown in Fig (5) opens.Therefore a masonry wall has some
stresses at ultimate strain shown in Fig(6).
Stress strain curve is shown in Fig(6)
Table 2: Compressive Behavior
Yield Stress Inelastic Damage
Strain Parameter
(106 Pa)
2nd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
11-12, March 2019

Damaged parameter (dt) can be determined

using equation(11)
σt
dt = 1 − (3 )
σ′t

Masonry tensile strength is represented by

σ′t
Table (3) represents damaged parameters and
inelastic strain correspondence to yield
stresses.
Table (2) and Table(3) are used to assigned
values to “concrete damage plasticity model”
Figure 6: Tensile Stress-Strain Curve
Two parts are created.one is concrete and the
Similar to the compression strain, tensile other one is masonry. Both are assigned solid
inelastic strains can be determined using homogeneous sections in a property module
equation (8)
σt
εel
t0 = (8)
E0 Table 3: Tensile Behavior
Inelastic strains can be determined using Yield Stress Cracking Damage
equation (9) 6 Strain Parameter
(10 Pa)
el
εin
t = εt − εt0 (1)
0.263 0 0
Plastic strains are calculated using equation
(10) 0.247 0.000029 0.06325
pl dt σt 0.235 0.000057 0.10819
εt = εin
t − . (2 )
(1−dt ) E0
0.226 0.000084 0.14267
Figure(7) represents graphical representation
0.218 0.000111 0.17044
of equation(8) to equation(10)
0.212 0.000138 0.19356
0.207 0.000164 0.21328
0.203 0.000190 0.23042
0.199 0.000216 0.24554
0.195 0.000242 0.25904
0.192 0.000268 0.27120
0.189 0.000293 0.28226
0.186 0.000319 0.29238
0.184 0.000345 0.30170
Figure 7: Definition of Tensile Inelastic
Strains
C. STEP DEFINITION
2nd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
11-12, March 2019
Dynamic explicit step is more suitable for
this model because masonry wall in this case
has Quasi-static in plane lateral loads.(3)
In ABAQUS program only one step is
defined by default (initial step). Here we
defined two additional steps. One is
displacement controlled step in case of lateral
loads and one is precompression step for pre-
compressive loads. For displacement
controlled step time increment defined is
1200 sec and for precompression step time
increment of 30 sec is defined.
Computationally the analysis is very time
consuming and costly so we defined the time
scaling for the speeding of analysis process
having a scale factor of 1000 defined in semi-
automatic mass scaling option which helps in
increasing the density of materials (3).
D. ASSEMBLY
As we defined two parts in part module
(Masonry wall and beam). To assemble both
of these parts Assembly module is used
where the beam is placed at the top of
masonry wall. Tie constraint is used to tie the
beam to the top of masonry wall using
interaction module where discretization
method has been used. By using coupling
type constraint a Reference point is
constrained to the bottom of the wall.
Figure 8: The Assembled Model
E. BOUNDARY CONDITIONS & LOADS
The boundry condition is applied to the
reference node (RP-1) and boundary
condition is ENCASTER type. Displacement
type boundary condition is applied to beam.
The vertical displacement is restrained so
putting (U3=0) and lateral displacement is
allowed (U1=0.004m).The procedure of
operation is such that it is placed
undercompression in precompression step
and then subjected to displacement
continuously up to end.
F. OUTPUT REQUESTS
In output request those variable are defined
which are of interest.we added compression
and tension damage variables for all analysis
procedure and time of 5 second are set for the
frequency of output values. Reaction force
(RF) in X-direction is also defined in output
history request for which reference point is
considered as domain and added to a set. Also
displacement in x-direction (U1) is defined
for which domain at the top of wall is
considered and added as a set.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Finally job module is used to run the analysis
and X-Y plots are extracted as the analysis
completes. Also stress verses strain curve is
extracted from output history request.
A. LOAD-DISPLACEMENT CURVE
Fig(9) Represents lateral load-lateral
displacement curve
2nd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
11-12, March 2019

Figure 9: Load-Displacement Curve of FEM Figure 10: Comparison of the Results

model
C. STRESS-STRAIN VISUALIZATION
At lateral force of 48KN and lateral
displacement of 0.51mm flexural tension Contours of stress strain results are illustrared
damage starts and for that performance level here where plastic strains and stresses are
of operational (O) is considered. At the center shown.
of the model significant damage starts due to
tensile stresses at 0.90 displacements. The
crack propagates diagonally towards the
corners of the wall and correspondence
horizontal load is 25KN. At 55kN load and
corresponding displacement of 1mm,
diagonal crack appears and regarded as
intermediate occupancy level (IO)
performance.
B. COMPARISON WITH LAURENCO
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
LEURENCO Positive direction hystereses
results for model was compared with Get data Figure 11: plastic strains
graph digitizer (5) and plotted as shown in
Fig (10). Metric units are converted to
imperial for comparison. It can be seen that
at small value of strain the numerical and
experimental result are nearly same. At
intermediate strain the Lounrenco study show
large deflection from the numerical study
while at larger strain value both study
coincides.

Figure 12: comparison of results

2nd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
11-12, March 2019
IV. CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION.
This numerical study was carried out on
already experimental study of masonry
structure by Lourenco P.B. (1996) and its
load displacement curve was compared for
different limit state.
In this study, the numerical model is
elastically calibrated with the experimental
result with the help of empirical equation and
elastic modulus found out to be 4070 MPa.
From this study it is concluded that within
short period of time complex structure
analysis can be performed which take longer
time experimentally. Different material
properties can be easily assigned to model
and their change in behavior can be found
out.
Also stress concentration at specific portion
can also be find out from the contours
obtained from analysis, experimentally stress
concentration areas are not clearly identified.
Also the crack pattern of the masonry
structure can be identified using this
numerical study.
Concrete Damaged plasticity is used as an
inelastic model which can easily show the
damage in the both tension and compression.
The default values of tension and
compression are determined from
mathematical expressions and using these
default values as a starter the plasticity
parameters are determined by trail test.
Masonry is constituent of brick and mortar
therefore it has to be modeled anisotropic to
show more realistic behavior in numerical
modeling. For anisotropic modeling three
methods can be adopted.
First method is anisotropic homogenous
method in which the input is two different
material properties in vertical and horizontal.
Abaqus show anisotropy only for elastic
behavior while for inelastic behavior user
defined material compiled in FORTRAN is
recommended.
Second method is building the model brick
by brick and join the by a binder or cohesive
material whose thickness is negligible or act
as interface. Half of the binder (mortar)
thickness is added to brick all dimensions.
This method very helpful and simple and is
recommended by most of the researchers.
Third method is building the model brick by
brick by taking into the account the mortar
thickness between the bricks. This method
takes too much time so it is not recommended
for large modeling e.g. walls. It is only
helpful for micro level modeling of masonry
for homogenization.
It was found out that the procedure is not
helpful in case of cyclic loading so it is
recommended for future study that
FORTRAN compiler should be used for
cyclic loading.
V. REFERENCES:
[1]. Abaqus Analysis User’s Guide –
“Fully coupled thermal-stress
analysis,”
[2]. Hemant B, Kaushik, Rai D.C.,
and Jain S.K. (2007), “Uniaxial
Compressive Stress-Strain Model for
Clay Brick Masonry”, Current
Science, 92(4), Indian Academy of
Sciences, Bangalore, India, 25
February 2007, pp. 497-501.
[3]. “Abaqus/Aqua analysis,” Section
6.11.1 of the Abaqus Analysis User’s
Manual
[4]. Backes, H. P. (1985), Behavior of
Masonry Under Tension in the
Direction of the Bed Joints, PhD
 2nd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
11-12, March 2019

thesis, Aachen University of thesis, Aachen University of

Technology, Aachen, Germany.
[5]. Lourenco, P.B. (1996),
Computational Strategies for
Masonry Structures, PhD thesis,
Delft University of Technology,
Delft, The Netherlands.
[6]. Backes, H. P. (1985), Behavior of
Masonry Under Tension in the
Direction of the Bed Joints, PhD
Technology, Aachen, Germany.
[7]. Schubert, P. (1988), Compressive
and Tensile Strength of Masonry. In:
procc.8th International Brick and
Block Masonry Conference, Ireland,
1988, pp. 406-419

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