A mixed lumped stress–displacement approach to the elastic problem of masonry walls

Abstract We present a novel approach to the elastic problem of masonry walls, which generalizes the lumped stress method presented in Fraternali, 2001 , Fraternali, 2007 , Fraternali, 2010 and Fraternali et al. (2002) . The generalization consists of a mixed lumped stress–displacement approach to the elastic problem of a wall that incorporates no-tension elements. Such an approach depends on the nodal values of the Airy stress function and the displacements of selected (“pivot”) nodes. The latter coincide with inter-element and boundary nodes. The mixed lumped stress–displacement method can be conveniently coupled with standard finite element and boundary element approaches. Numerical applications dealing with recurrent structural elements are given, showing that such a method is able to capture some essential features of the actual response of masonry constructions.

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