ASSESSMENT OF STRUCTURAL STABILITY OF HISTORICAL MASONRY STRUCTURES

Abstract

Prevention of the Antique and Historical structures especially built in masonry increases privilege of the nation. Proper maintenance and the Retrofitting for seismic (dynamic) forces increase the life and safety of the structure. For designing of seismic retrofitting or to repair the damaged part of the old masonry structure the assessment of structural stability for the forces is important. Apart from privilege, also the economy of the nation can be increased and the environment can be preserved by avoiding new constructions. The masonry is comparatively strong in compression and weak in tension. It is brittle to tensile forces. The work mainly involves comparing the calculated tensile stresses with the acceptable values and predicting the areas where retrofitting is needed. When the structure considered as a whole, it becomes time consuming and difficult to analyze by manual calculations. The use of software for analyzing gives efficient and reliable results in less time. It is also possible to predict the structural behaviour of masonry structures within a level of acceptable uncertainties. The aim of the present study is to assess the stability of masonry structure by modelling it's geometry in three dimensions, which is presented in a simple and computationally efficient adaptive finite element analysis strategy using general purpose computer software such as ANSYS. ANSYS has been adopted for accurate and reliable evaluation of displacements, stresses and strains in the masonry structure for static and dynamic loads. Studies have clearly shown the importance of appropriate finite element mesh for reliable prediction of failure stresses and crack patterns. Since the time allotted for this work is less, the most vulnerable and geometrically critical part is selected in the total structure and analyzed for the assessment of stability.