Rigid Element Model for the Dynamic Behaviour of Masonry Façades in Building Aggregates

In this short contribution, an existing discrete/rigid block/element model, able to study the in- and out-of-plane behaviour of masonry walls with regular texture, is extended and adapted for performing out-of-plane modal analysis of large-scale masonry façades taken from building aggregates. A generalisation of the existing model is proposed in order to discretise large masonry façades by means of quadrilateral rigid elements, without significantly increasing the computational effort of modal analyses with respect to more detailed models having rigid blocks. An efficient tool is also proposed for the definition of rigid element geometric characteristics and the definition of contacts between the elements, starting from a drawing exchange format file. After the evaluation of the dynamic behaviour of a simple case study represented by a small building façade, a more complex existing case study is considered for obtaining an acceptable model calibration by comparing out-of-plane modal analysis results with on-site vibrational measurements.