Study of the brickwork masonry cracking with a cohesive fracture model

This paper presents a numerical procedure to simulate the cracking process of the brickwork masonry under tensile/shear loading. The model is an extension of the cohesive model prepared by the authors for concrete, and takes into account the anisotropy of the material. The numerical procedure includes two steps: 1) calculation of the crack path with a linear elastic fracture model, 2) after the crack path is obtained, an interface finite element (using the cohesive fracture model) is incorporated into the trajectory. Such a model is then implemented into a commercial code by means of a user subroutine, consequently being contrasted with experimental results. Fracture properties of masonry are independently measured for two directions on the composed masonry, and then input in the numerical model. This numerical procedure accurately predicts the experimental mixed mode fracture records for different orientations of the brick layers on masonry panels.