Numerical Analysis of an Earthen Masonry Structure Subjected to Blast Loading

Abstract

Historic monuments and construction capture the knowledge of civilizations of the past and are a source of pride for people of the present. Over the centuries, these buildings have been at risk from natural and man-made causes. The Alhambra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Granada, Spain, is one of such places. This paper aims to evaluate the structural performance of the Torre de la Vela, a tower in the Alhambra, under blast loads. The loads were based on historical records of barrels of gunpowder and were modeled as simplified pressure profiles using existing empirical equations. The effect of impulsive loading on the material properties was accounted for using dynamic increase factors, determined experimentally by previous authors. The model was created using finite element methods (FEM) and the problem was solved using explicit dynamic analysis available in Abaqus/Explicit. Using the failure volume damage index, a blast load applied outside and inside of the building would create a low damage level, which should be treated with caution given the occurrence of localized damage. The removal of elements exceeding a given damage threshold led to more visible damage patterns than the Concrete Tension Damage option in Abaqus.

Explicit Method in the Seismic Assessment of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings through Plane Stress Elements

“…Pereira and Lourenço [15] used a FEM model with an explicit solver to study explosions in a historical masonry building. A similar approach was carried out by Tse et al [16] to evaluate the response of a historical structure built with earthen masonry to blast loads. Nevertheless, the studies and applications of explicit methods for the seismic assessment of URM buildings are scarce.…”

Static and Impact Response of a Single-Span Stone Masonry Arch

“…Refs. [5,6] evaluated the collapse mechanism and performance of masonry structures subjected to high strain loading by considering the masonry as a homogenous medium, referred to as macromodeling. Alternative to macromodeling, joint interfaces can be considered explicitly in both static and high-strain loading to address the joint opening, sliding, and unit detachment that may occur during the analysis, referred to as simplified micromodeling [7][8][9][10].…”