Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Advances in Engineering Software

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/advengsoft

3D macro-element modelling approach for seismic assessment of

historical masonry churches
B. Pantò, F. Cannizzaro, S. Caddemi, I. Caliò∗
Dipartimento Ingegneria Civile e Architettura, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Recent earthquakes have demonstrated the high vulnerability of cultural heritage buildings, whose seis-
Received 25 August 2015 mic assessment and rehabilitation constitute an important issue in seismic regions around the world. The
Revised 12 January 2016
high nonlinear behaviour of masonry material requires ad hoc refined finite element numerical models,
Accepted 18 February 2016
whose complexity and computational cost are generally unsuitable for practical applications. For these
Available online 12 March 2016
reasons many authors proposed simplified numerical strategies to be used in engineering practice. How-
Keywords: ever, most of these alternative methods are oversimplified since based on the assumption of in plane
Macro-element behaviour of masonry walls.
Discrete element In this paper a discrete-modelling approach for the simulation of both the in plane and out of-plane
Monumental structures response of masonry structures is proposed. The method is applied to a basilica plan church, which has
Computational method been partially investigated in the literature. The results show the capability of the proposed discrete ele-
Push-over analysis
ment approach to simulate the nonlinear response of monumental structures also in those cases in which
HiStrA software
the ‘in’ and the ‘out’ of plane response cannot be decoupled, as it happens for many structural layouts
typical of churches, ancient palaces and several other monumental structures.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction historical masonry churches. Betti and Vignoli provided numeri-

Historical monumental structures (HMS) are present in many
seismically prone areas around the world and belong to our cul-
tural heritage. Seismic retrofitting assessment of HMS represents a
challenging problem that has to be faced according to the ‘mini-
mum intervention criterion’ to safeguard the loss of cultural value
[1]. Nevertheless, in most cases seismic retrofitting projects of his-
torical buildings are performed without a prior reliable assessment
of the actual structural conditions. This apparent paradox is mainly
due to difficulties related to the numerical assessment of the seis-
mic behaviour of monumental structures [2]. As a matter of fact,
the nonlinear dynamic behaviour of a masonry monumental struc-
ture subjected to earthquake loadings is generally governed by a
complex interaction between in plane and out-of plane response
of masonry walls and is often further complicated by the presence
of structural element with curved geometry such as arches, domes
and vaults. Additionally, the high nonlinear behaviour of masonry
material requires ad hoc numerical models capable of reproducing
the degrading nonlinear cyclic behaviour of masonry [1,2].
In the scientific literature there are many significant examples
of applications of the nonlinear FEM (finite element method) to
∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0957382255.
E-mail address: icalio@dica.unict.it (I. Caliò).
cal assessments of the static and seismic behaviour of basilica-
type churches (Italy) [3,4], showing how the application of non-
linear FEM can offer significant information for the study of an-
cient structures with respect both to the understanding of existing
damage and to the minimum and adequate design of strengthen-
ing. Lourenço et al. analysed the seismic safety of the remainings of
one church in Famagusta (Cyprus) [5]. Firstly they used limit analy-
sis of collapse mechanisms as preliminary safety assessment, then,
a nonlinear FEM was prepared and updated using dynamic iden-
tification results for a comparison between the two approaches.
More recently, Milani and Valente performed the analyses of seven
masonry churches damaged by the Emilia Romagna (2012) seis-
mic event [6,7]. They adopted Global FE (finite element) pushover
and limit analyses, combined with a plate and shell discretisa-
tion, to have an insight into active failure mechanisms and accel-
erations associated with the formation of partial collapses. Many
other examples of nonlinear FEM applications are reported in the
scientific literature as valuable academic case studies [8-10], how-
ever refined FE approaches require sophisticated constitutive laws,
a huge computational cost and advanced abilities in the model im-
plementation as well as in the interpretations of the results. On the
other hand, structural engineers need simple and efficient numeri-
cal tools, whose complexity and computational demand should be
appropriate for practical engineering purposes. For these reasons,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.advengsoft.2016.02.009
0965-9978/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59
in the last decades, many authors proposed simplified or alterna-
tive methodologies for predicting the nonlinear seismic behaviour
of unreinforced masonry structures, particularly for buildings, as
reported in reference [11] where a comparison between different
approaches is performed. However most of the simplified meth-
ods, currently used in practical engineering, by assuming in plane
behaviour of masonry walls make these approaches unsuitable for
those masonry structures whose seismic response is dominated by
the out-of plane response, as in the case of churches.
An alternative approach to the nonlinear FEM is represented by
the rigid-body spring models (RBSM), specifically formulated with
the aim of approximating the macroscopic behaviour of masonry
walls with reduced degrees of freedom. Some valuable applications
of this approach are relative to historical masonry buildings [12,13].
A comprehensive review in the current development on numeri-
cal issues on masonry mechanics is reported in [1,2]. In the latter
works it is also highlighted that a complex analysis tool does not
necessarily provide better results than simple tools.
In this paper, an original modelling approach for the simula-
tion of the nonlinear behaviour of masonry historical structures,
under static and seismic loadings, capable of accounting for the
out-of plane behaviour of masonry walls is devised. The proposed
approach is based on the concept of macro-element discretisation
[14] and has been conceived with the aim of capturing the nonlin-
ear behaviour of an entire building by means of an assemblage of
several discrete-elements which are characterised by different level
of complexity according to the role played by the element in the
global model.
The basic element has been initially developed for the simu-
lation of the in plane response of masonry walls [14,15] and has
received many scientific validations based both on numerical and
experimental [11,14–17] results. This plane element has a simple
mechanical representation and its kinematics is dependent on four
Lagrangian parameters only. It can be regarded as an articulated
quadrilateral with four rigid edges and four hinged vertices con-
nected by two diagonal nonlinear springs. Each of the rigid edges
can be connected to other elements by means of discrete dis-
tributions of nonlinear springs with limited tensile strength. The
plane discrete-element has been implemented in the computer
code 3DMacro [18], that simplifies the application of the method
by means of input and output graphical user interfaces. This novel
approach has been also recently successfully applied and validated
for mixed reinforced concrete-masonry structures and for confined
masonry buildings [19-23]. However, the basic plane-element is in-
tended only for the simulation of the nonlinear response of ma-
sonry walls in their own plane since the out-of plane response
is not taken into account. In order to overcome this significant
restriction, common to almost all the macro-element simplified
approaches proposed in the literature [13,16], an upgrade of the
plane macro-element, obtained by introducing a third dimension
and the needed additional degrees-of-freedom for the simulation
of the out-of plane response, has been provisionally investigated
in [24,25,28]. The enriched spatial element, that can be still rep-
resented by means of an equivalent simple mechanical scheme, is
characterised by seven Lagrangian parameters only and its kine-
matics should allow an efficient simulation of both the in and out-
of plane response of masonry walls. The computational cost of the
proposed discrete element approach is greatly reduced, if com-
pared to a traditional nonlinear finite element modelling, and the
calibration of the model and the interpretation of the numerical
results are simple and unambiguous, since based on a straightfor-
ward fibre discretisation.
In this paper the spatial macro-element is described and ap-
plied to a historical basilica plan church, the S. Ippolisto Martire
Church, located in Atripalda (Avellino, Italy), built between 1584
and 1612 on a previous basilica of the IV century AD. This church
41
has been firstly investigated by Mele et al. [26] and more recently
by the same authors of the present paper [27].
Mele et al. [26] investigated the seismic behaviour of the basil-
ica type church which can be regarded as the combination of
some structural elements, typical of this building category: nave
and aisles connected by nave arcades, façade, transept, crossing
and chancel. Mele et al. [26] had shown that detailed uncoupled
nonlinear analyses of sub-structural systems can provide funda-
mental information on the local and global seismic behaviour of
the structure and, at the same time, allows an identification of
the more vulnerable resistant mechanisms which contribute to the
seismic performance of a specific monumental structure. In their
study Mele et al. [26] identified the main sub-structural systems
which characterise the considered basilica plan church then, for
each of them, they performed nonlinear push-over analyses, based
on smeared crack nonlinear finite element models, to provide a
seismic resistance assessment.
The present authors in [27] analysed only the in plane be-
haviour of the sub-structural elements, previously identified by
Mele et al. [26], by means of the proposed discrete element ap-
proach under the simplified hypothesis of unlimited ductility. In
this paper, besides a re-analysis of the same sub-structural el-
ements to assess the influence of a reduced ductility, a three-
dimensional model of the entire church is performed. The analyses
on the whole church allow to compare the results obtained on the
single sub-structural elements to those obtained by means of the
global three-dimensional model.
The results, expressed in terms of collapse mechanisms and
push-over curves, seem to confirm the potentiality of the proposed
approach to be considered, and further developed, as numerical
tool devoted to the seismic assessment of historical masonry struc-
tures whose simplicity favourites its use, particularly for practical
applications.
2. The 3D macro-element
The three dimensional discrete element (Fig. 1b) represents a
nontrivial extension of a plane macro-element introduced by Caliò
et al. [15] conceived for the simulation of the in plane nonlinear
response of masonry walls (Fig. 1a). The plane macro-element con-
sists of a pinned quadrilateral made with four rigid edges, in which
a nonlinear diagonal link is connected to the corners to simulate
the shear response. Each side of the panel can interact with other
panels, elements or supports by means of a discrete distribution
of nonlinear springs, denoted as interface. Each interface is con-
stituted by a single row of n nonlinear springs, orthogonal to the
panel side, and an additional longitudinal spring, which rules the
relative motion in the direction of the panel edge.
Each plane macro-element exhibits three degrees-of-freedom,
associated to the in plane rigid-body motion, plus a further degree-
of-freedom needed to describe the in plane shear deformability.
The deformations of the interfaces are associated to the relative
motion between corresponding panels, therefore no further La-
grangian parameters are needed in order to describe their kine-
matics.
In spite of its simplicity, such a basic mechanical scheme is able
to simulate the main in plane failure mechanisms of a portion of
masonry wall subjected to horizontal and vertical loads. The as-
semblage of these elements allows the simulation of nonlinear re-
sponse of entire masonry buildings for which the out-of plane re-
sponse of the masonry wall can be ignored [26] or considered sep-
arately as local failure mechanism.
The three-dimensional macro-element (Fig. 1b) represents the
spatial upgrade of the plane macro-element. In particular, the main
upgrades can be summarised as follows:
42 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59
Fig. 1. Equivalent mechanical representation of the macro-element. (a) The plane macro-element; (b) the spatial macro-element.
– three additional degrees-of-freedom have been considered for
the description of the out-of plane kinematics;
– the geometry of the articulated quadrilateral can be irregular
for a better description of complex geometry layouts;
– further nonlinear links have been introduced in order to ac-
count for the three-dimensional mechanical behaviour of the
element according to a discrete fibre discretisation strategy.
The kinematics of the spatial macro-element is governed by 7
degrees-of-freedom only, able to describe both the in and out-of
plane rigid body motions of the quadrilateral and the in plane
shear deformability. This latter is ruled by a single nonlinear spring
placed along one of the diagonals of the articulated quadrilateral
(Fig. 2b).
The interaction of the spatial macro-element with the adjacent
elements or the external supports is ruled by 3D-interfaces. Each
3D-interface possesses m rows of n longitudinal (i.e. perpendicular
to the planes of the interface) NLinks. Consequently, each interface
is discretised, similarly to what is done in classical fibre models, in
m × n sub-areas (Fig. 2a).
Besides the interface orthogonal springs, the 3D interfaces are
endowed with additional transversal sliding springs (Fig. 2b). The
latter are required to control the in plane and out-of plane sliding
mechanisms and the torsion around the axis perpendicular to the
plane of the interface.
The number of NLinks adopted in the 3D-interfaces is selected
according to the desired level of accuracy of the nonlinear re-
sponse.
3. The mechanical characterisation of the element
Each macro-element must be representative of the correspond-
ing finite portion of masonry wall, cut out by plane sections lo-
cated at the edges of the quadrilateral. This equivalence relies on
a straightforward fibre calibration procedure, and is based only on
the main mechanical parameters which characterise the masonry
according to an orthotropic homogeneous medium. In the follow-
ing sub-sections the mechanical characterisation of the model, that
relies on the definition of the constitutive laws of the nonlinear
links, is described more in detail with reference to a rectangular
masonry panel.
3.1. The orthogonal springs
Since the masonry is considered as a homogeneous medium its
global behaviour should be ascribed to the flexural, shearing and
torsional characteristics of a finite portion of an orthotropic inelas-
tic continua. As mentioned before, the flexural behaviour is simu-
lated by the interface orthogonal springs connecting the panel to
adjacent elements. Each spring is calibrated by adopting a specific
constitutive law for the masonry material, according to a simplified
fibre model approach.
In the description of the calibration procedure a perfectly
elasto-plastic behaviour with limited deformability is assumed. The
orthotropic nature of the masonry can be simply considered by
calibrating separately the interfaces according to the mechanical
properties of the corresponding directions.
The case regarding a horizontal interface connecting two
generic panels, k and l, characterised by different mechanical and
geometrical properties, is considered. Since the deformations of the
panels are concentrated in zero thickness interfaces, the vertical
orthogonal springs have the role of simulating the deformability
of the two connected panels in the vertical direction. The stiffness
calibration of each panel is simply obtained by assigning to each
link the axial rigidity of the corresponding masonry strips, identi-
fied by the influence area of each spring and the half-dimension
of the panel along the direction perpendicular to the interface.
This procedure provides couples of springs in series. Each couple
of springs is then replaced by a single resulting nonlinear elasto-
plastic spring as described in reference [15].
Focusing on a link corresponding to a single panel the initial
stiffness Kp , the compressive and tensile yielding strengths Fcy , Fty
and the corresponding ultimate displacements ucu , utu are derived
by the knowledge of the mechanical material properties of the ma-
sonry panel as follows:
E As
Kp = 2 (1)
L
Fcy = As σc (2a)
Fty = As σt (2b)
L
ucu = εcu (3a)
2
L
utu = εtu (3b)
2
where E is the Young’s modulus in the direction orthogonal to
the interface; σ c and σ t are the compressive and tensile yield-
ing stresses, ε cu and ε tu are the ultimate compressive and tensile
strains; As is the influence area of the nonlinear link, and L/2 is the
length corresponding to half fibre [15].
3.2. The transversal springs
The nonlinear links, lying along the interface, have been de-
noted as transversal springs. In the discretisation here adopted
only three nonlinear links have been considered, which is the min-
imum required for ruling the possible masonry failure modes. A
 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59 43

Fig. 2. Simplified mechanical representation of the spatial macro-element. (a) The element with the representation of the orthogonal NLinks and the corresponding fibres;
(b) the element with the representation of the transversal and diagonal NLinks.

single in plane transversal spring governs the in plane sliding of

the element along the interface. The out-of plane shear deforma-
bility is ruled by two parallel springs, which take care of the out-
of plane sliding behaviour and the torsional elastic and inelastic
response of the connected adjacent panels.

3.2.1. The in plane transversal spring

The in plane shear response of the masonry is ruled by the
diagonal and shear-sliding in plane links. Although each type of
NLink rules the shear diagonal and sliding collapse behaviour, the
overall elastic shear deformation of the masonry panel can be
partly associated to a diagonal deformation and partly attributed
to concentrated deformability along the mortar joints, better de-
scribed as a relative sliding motion between interfaces. In the ap-
plications reported in the following, it is assumed that the overall
in plane shear elastic deformability is concentrated in the diago-
nal links and the shear-sliding in plane links have been calibrated
according to a rigid-plastic behaviour whose inelasticity has been
calibrated according to a Mohr–Coulomb law.

3.3.2. The out-of plane transversal springs
The two out-of plane transversal nonlinear links are required to
control the out-of plane sliding mechanisms as well as the torsion
around the axis perpendicular to the plane of the interface. In the
applications reported in the following, each link simulates the out-
of plane shear deformability of two adjacent panels according to
their influence volume.
The case of two identical adjacent panels is considered, as an
example. In this case the out-of plane elastic shear stiffness ks is
obtained by assigning to each link, the shear stiffness of the cor-
responding masonry strip, identified by its influence area A/2 mul-
tiplied by twice the half dimension of the panel in the direction
perpendicular to the interface L, and characterised by the shear
modulus G.
GA
ks =
2L
The torsional elastic behaviour associated to the two links is re-
lated to their distance d ( Fig. 3). With the aim to obtain a suit-
able torsional elastic calibration, the distance d between the two
springs has been calculated by enforcing a torsional stiffness equiv-
alence between the discrete model and the reference elastic con-
tinuous beam model identified by the two portion of the panels
whose torsional deformability is attributed to the links of the zero-
thickness interface ( Fig. 3).
3.3. The diagonal spring
Shear failure is the most common type of failure of a masonry
wall, when subjected to seismic action in its own plane. The di-
Fig. 3. The out-of plane transversal links and their influence volumes.
agonal springs have the fundamental role to preside over the di-
agonal shear failure collapse. This is associated to the loss of the
bearing capacity of masonry panel due to excessive shear and the
consequent formation of diagonal cracks along the direction of the
principal compressive stress. Many different yielding criteria can
be adopted all accounting for a shear resistance strongly depen-
dent on vertical compression stresses in the wall. As highlighted in
reference [29], two basically different hypotheses, which lead vir-
tually to the same results, have been developed in order to model
the shear failure mechanism. In the first case, which has been
accepted by Eurocode 6 (Design of masonry structures) [30] the
shear strength is defined according to a Mohr–Coulomb law
(4)
f v = f v 0 + μc σ n (5)
where fv 0 is the shear strength under zero compression strength,
μc is a friction coefficient defining the contribution of compressive
stresses, σ n is the value of the compressive stress. Values of fv 0
and μc should be determined by experimental tests [31,32]. This
criterion is the same suggested for the description of the sliding-
shear failure, although characterised by appropriate values of fv 0
and μc that in general do not coincide with the corresponding val-
ues that govern the sliding-shear failure. In the proposed macro-
modelling approach the two mechanisms, although both associated
to the in plane shear deformability, are controlled separately.
Alternative theories associate the diagonal shear failure to the
principle tensile stress that develops in the wall when subjected to
44 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59

vertical loads and increasing horizontal forces. The most adopted L1

criterion based on this assumption is the well known Turnsek and
Cacovic criterion [33] that takes into account the influence of the T2 T3 T4 T4 T4 T4
geometry of the wall and the distribution of action at maximum
L2
resistance. The latter criterion can be expressed as

ft σ0
fv = +1 (6) T5
b ft

where fv is the average shear stress in the wall attained at the

maximum resistance, ft is the tensile strength of masonry, b is the
shear stress distribution factor (depending on the geometry of the
wall), σ 0 is the average compression stress on the panel.
The calibration of the diagonal springs in the initial linear elas-
tic range is simply obtained by enforcing an elastic equivalence
between the panel and the corresponding masonry wall, consid-
ered as a pure shear deformable homogeneous plate with tangen-
tial modulus G, transversal area At and height h. Further details on
the calibration procedure are reported in [15,24,25].
4. Application to a basilica plan church
The assessment of the seismic behaviour of historical monu-
mental structure still represents a challenging problem which in-
volves the contribution of many research groups around the world.
Due to the difficulties to define three dimensional global nonlinear
finite element models many researchers proposed alternative and
simplified procedures for the assessment of the seismic vulnera-
bility of monumental structures. An interesting approach proposed
by Mele et al. [26,34] is based on a two steps analysis method. In
the first step the overall structure is analysed in the linear range
through a complete and refined 3D model, with the aim of charac-
terising the linear static and dynamic behaviour, defining the cor-
responding internal force distribution among the single elementary
parts and identifying the weak points of potential failures in the
L2
L1
Fig. 4. Plan layout of the church (from Mele et al. [16]), with the identification of
the considered sub-structural systems (dashed lines).
building. Secondly single structural elements are extracted from
the 3D context and analysed both in the linear and nonlinear range
through refined 2D finite element models, with the aim of identi-
fying the major structural properties that can be used for a sim-
plified assessment of the seismic behaviour of the whole build-
ing. Consistently to this approach Mele et al. [26] investigated the
seismic behaviour of a typical basilica type church. They consid-
ered the S. Ippolisto Martire Church, located in Atripalda (Avellino,
Italy), built between 1584 and 1612 on a previous basilica founda-
tions of the IV century AD. As highlighted by the authors [26], this
church features the presence of very definite structural typologies
formed by the assemblage of quite repetitive structural schemes,
that in the referenced paper [26] have been denoted as ‘macro-
elements’. In this paper these structural schemes will be identified
as ‘sub-structural systems’ since the term macro-element has been
used at a different scale and with a different meaning.

475 1300 475 475 1300 475

300

300
890
1495

1495
1435
1060

605

755 745 755 365 390 745 390 365

Element T2 Element T3
340
660
795

515
420
325
185

125 310
1135
1000
810

375

60 305 240 895 605 170 190 600 325 600 190 170

Element T4 Element T5

Fig. 5. The considered plane transversal sub-structural systems: geometrical layouts and mesh discretisation adopted in the discrete element simulations.
 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59 45

925 2920

P1

295
P2 P3

660
1187

275
560
312

170 185 220 185 1770 429 220 429 120

Element L1

970 785 325 550 550 550 550 335

P1
295

130
P2 435 115
P3
440

265
265
1420

275
1060

775

560
960 735 170 430 120 430 120 430 120 430 120 430 120

Element L2
Fig. 6. The considered plane longitudinal sub-structural systems: geometrical layouts and mesh discretisation adopted in the discrete element simulations.

The basilica church consists of some structural elements, typ-
ical in this building category: nave and aisles connected by nave
arcades, façade, transept, crossing and chancel ( Fig. 4). The de-
tailed nonlinear analysis of each sub-structural system can provide
fundamental information on the global seismic behaviour of the
structure allowing an identification of the more vulnerable resis-
tant mechanisms which contribute to the seismic performance of
the structure. In their study [26] Mele et al. performed the non-
linear push-over analyses of all the identified plane sub-structural
systems with the aim to provide a seismic assessment of the entire
church.
Recently, the present authors in [27] analysed the in plane be-
haviour of some sub-structural systems by means of the proposed
discrete element approach and under the simplified hypothesis of
unlimited ductility.
In this paper, besides a re-analysis of all the sub-structural
systems to assess the influence of a reduced available ductility,
a three-dimensional sub-structural model involving the façade as
well as the three-dimensional model of the entire church are in-
vestigated.
The nonlinear flexural behaviour has been assumed according
to a perfectly elasto-plastic constitutive law with limited and un-
limited ductility. Namely, in the ductile constitutive model neither
crashing in compression nor cracking in tension is admitted. On
the other hand the brittle model is characterised by cracking at a
certain value of the tensile strain while no crashing in compres-
sion is still maintained. The shear sliding and the shear diago-
nal behaviour have been calibrated according to a Mohr–Coulomb
criterion, with unlimited ductility, according to the values reported
in Table 1. In the following sub-sections firstly the nonlinear re-
sponses of the sub-structural systems are investigated secondly
the obtained results are compared with those related to the en-
tire three-dimensional discrete element model. The results are ex-
pressed in terms of collapse mechanisms, push-over curves and
damage scenarios.
4.1. The in-plane response of sub-structural systems
The detailed description of the case study, both from a mechan-
ical and geometrical point of views, is reported in the referenced
paper [26].
The plan positions of the considered sub-structural systems are
represented in the schematic plan view of Fig. 4, while in Figs.
5 and 6 the geometrical layouts and the corresponding adopted
macro-element discretisations in the transversal and longitudinal
directions are reported.
The results reported in the following are relative to push-over
analyses associated to the application of constant vertical loads,
due to the gravity loads, and an increasing distribution of horizon-
tal mass-proportional loadings. It has been assumed that each sin-
gle structural-element is independent from the remaining part of
the structure.
In order to investigate the role of the ductility, in the flexural
response, the plane sub-structural systems have been analysed, by
assuming the masonry mechanical parameters reported in Table 1
for different values of the available ductility μ associated to the
46 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59

Table 1
Mechanical parameters assumed for the sub-structural systems.

Flexural (orthogonal Nlinks)

W E σc σt λ
unit weight Young’s modulus compressive tensile strength Nlinks distance
(kN/m3 ) (MPa) strength (MPa) (MPa) (cm)

19 1650 3.3 0.2 10

Shear diagonal (diagonal Nlinks) Shear sliding (transversal links)

G fvo μsh c μsl

shear modulus shear strength friction coefficient cohesion (MPa) friction coefficient
(MPa) (MPa)

660 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.6

tensile strength of the orthogonal NLinks. Namely, the case corre- 0.6
sponding to μ = 1, 10, 20, ∞ are considered, being μ = 1, represen-
tative of a pure fragile tensile response and μ = ∞, corresponding 0.5
to unlimited ductility. In the following the in plane nonlinear re-
sponse of the sub-structural elements oriented along the transver-
0.4
sal and the longitudinal directions are considered separately.

F/W
0.3
With the aim to investigate the influence of the adopted dis- ductility=1
cretisation, in the last subsection, relative to the sub-structural sys- 0.2 ductility=10
tem T2, the influence of the mesh size and the fibre discretisation
ductility=20
are investigated. 0.1
ductility not limited
0
4.1.1. The in plane response of the sub-structural systems in the
0 4 8 12 16 20
transversal direction displacement [mm]
The results of the push-over analyses of the sub-structural sys-
tem T5 subjected to a mass proportional distribution of in plane Fig. 7. Sub-structural element T5: nonlinear force displacement curves for different
loads are reported in Fig. 7. values of the available ductility.
It can be observed how the reduction of the available ductil-
ity in the tensile constitutive law of the orthogonal nonlinear links stresses in the interfaces are represented by means of a chromatic
leads to lower values of global resistance although the sub-system scale in which the red and the blue colours correspond to tensile
preserves a significant global ductility capacity. and compressive forces respectively. It can be observed how the in
Fig. 8 reports the failure mechanisms of the plane sub- plane collapse of the façade is dominated by the rocking response
structural element T5 for the limit cases of fragile and unlimited of four slender piers, as a consequence of the damage of the span-
ductility. In the same figures the relative distribution of normal drels.

Fig. 8. Sub-structural element T5. Failure mechanisms associated to horizontal in plane mass-proportional load distribution for two values of available ductility. (a) μ = 1;
(b) μ = ∞.
 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59 47

0.6 terised by the presence of two adjacent arches, placed in an eccen-

tric position, close to the attachment of the main façade. The sub-
0.5 structural system L2, corresponding to the section of the church
along the nave arcade, represents a typical solution obtained as the
0.4
assemblage of several columns supporting arches and vaults and a
larger arch corresponding to the transept.
F/W

0.3
0.2 ductility=1
ductility=10
0.1 ductility=20
ductility not limited
0
0 4 8 12 16
displacement [mm]
Fig. 9. Sub-structural element T2: nonlinear force displacement curves for different
values of the available ductility.
Fig. 9 shows the push-over curves analyses for different val-
ues of the available ductility of the material while the failure
mechanisms associated of the triumphal arch (element T2) are re-
ported in Fig. 10.
The failure mechanisms, shown in Fig. 10, is characterised by
the failure of the arch and the rocking motion of the lateral piers.
The capacity curves for the internal walls, T3 and T4, are re-
ported in Fig. 11. In this case, it can be observed that a reduction
of the material ductility leads to a reduction of both the global re-
sistance and global ductility of the system.
In Fig. 12 the collapse mechanisms relative to the case of un-
limited ductility are reported, for both the sub-structural systems
the collapse mechanisms are dominated by the failure of the lat-
eral arches due to the rocking of the slim and unconfined piers.
4.1.2. The in plane response of sub-structural systems in the
longitudinal direction
In this sub-section the sub-structural systems L1 and L2, placed
along the longitudinal direction, Fig. 6, are considered. L1 identi-
fies the walls of the lateral prospects of the church and is charac-
Fig. 13 reports the results of the push-over analysis for the L1
sub-structural system, for different values of the available ductility.
The different model points considered, P1 , P2 and P3 , whose lo-
cation is reported in Fig. 6, show similar responses and displace-
ment capacities as reported in Fig. 13. A different behaviour can be
recognised in Fig. 14 reporting the results of the push-over analysis
20
for the L2 sub-structural system, for different values of the avail-
able ductility, in this case the target point P1 shows different dis-
placement capacity of the target point P2 and P3 that are instead
characterised by a similar response. This trend is due to a partial
separation in the weaker part of the wall, due to the presence of
the first arch. This behaviour can be better recognised in Fig. 14d in
which the curves, for the value of ductility μ = 10, are compared
and in Fig. 15a that reports the failure mechanism corresponding
to the case of μ = 10.
Fig. 15 reports the collapse mechanisms of the sub-structural
system L1 and L2, corresponding to the value of the available duc-
tility μ = 10. It can be observed that the system L1 exhibits a
global behaviour while the system L2 shows a separation between
the end wall on the left side and the sequence of arches on the
right. This behaviour is due to the different lateral resistance of
the two parts and to the law tensile resistance typical of the ma-
sonry material. In the same figure the relative distribution of nor-
mal stresses in the interfaces are represented according to the al-
ready adopted chromatic scale.
The reported collapse mechanisms are in very good agreement
with the damage scenarios often observed during seismic events
in many basilica churches [19-21] and are close to the collapse
mode already obtained by Mele et al. [26] through a smeared crack
nonlinear finite element modelling approach. All the performed
analyses have shown that if the available ductility decreases, the
zero tensile zones at the element interfaces increase. Low available

Fig. 10. Sub-structural system T2: in plane failure mechanisms, damage distribution and normal stress. (a) μ = 1; (b) μ = ∞.
48 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59

a 0.4 b 0.25

0.2
0.3
0.15
F/W

F/W
0.2
ductility=1 0.1 ductility=1
ductility=10 ductility=10
0.1 ductility=20
ductility=20 0.05
ductility not limited ductility not limited
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 10 20 30 40
displacement [mm] displacement [mm]

Fig. 11. Push-over force displacement curves for different values of the available ductility for the internal sub-structural element. (a) T3; (b) T4.

Fig. 12. Sub-structural system (a) T3 and (b) T4: in plane failure mechanisms corresponding to the case μ = ∞.

ductility favourites collapse scenarios characterised by heavy dam-
age distribution and failure mechanisms dominated by several lo-
cal collapses due to the separation of the structure in several parts
with limited interaction during the dynamic response.
4.1.3. A comparison between the sub-structural systems in terms of
push-over curves
A comparison between the push-over curves of both the
transversal and longitudinal sub-structural elements are reported
in Fig. 16. Two values of ductilities have been considered, corre-
sponding to μ = 10 (identified as brittle in the figures) and μ = ∞.
The internal sub-structural systems, T2 and T3 along the transver-
sal direction and L2 along the longitudinal direction, are charac-
terised by the lower values of strength and stiffness. Furthermore
the systems T3 and T4 show a low ductile behaviour for the value
of available ductility μ = 10.
cases of a low ductility behaviour μ = 5 (brittle) and unlimited
ductility.
Two different mesh refinements are considered, as reported in
Fig. 17a, mesh A characterised by 462 macro-elements and a to-
tal of 3212 degrees of freedom, mesh B is relative to 190 macro-
elements and 1326 degrees of freedom. The comparison in terms
of push-over curves are shown in Fig. 17b as can be observed the
results provided by the two different mesh are in good agreement
both for the brittle and the unlimited ductile cases.
In Fig. 18 the failure mechanisms predicted by the two different
discretisations are shown; it can be observed how both the simu-
lations provide a good representation of the collapse behaviour of
the investigated structure.
4.2. A spatial sub-structural system for investigated the out of plane
response of the façade

4.1.4. Influence of the mesh size Several earthquakes have shown the high vulnerability of the
In this section a sensitivity analysis to assess the influence of façades of churches which can either detach from the orthogonal
the macro-element mesh-size in the structural response is briefly retaining walls or partially involve the orthogonal walls in the out-
reported. The sub-structural system T2 is considered in the two of plane mechanism. The spatial sub-structural element reported in
 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59 49

Fig. 13. Sub-structural element L1: nonlinear force displacement curves for different values of the available ductility and for the target points (a) P1, (b) P2, (c) P3; (d)
displacement curves for different target points and μ = 10.

Fig. 14. Sub-structural element L2: nonlinear force displacement curves for different values of the available ductility and for the target points (a) P1, (b) P2, (c) P3; (d)
displacement curves for different target points and ductility μ = 10.
50 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59

Fig. 15. Longitudinal sub-structural systems: in plane failure mechanisms and distribution of normal stress for μ = 10. (a) L1 system; (b) L2 system.

0.6 0.6

0.5 0.5

0.4 0.4
F/W

F/W

0.3 0.3

0.2 0.2

T2 T3
0.1 T4 T5 0.1 L1 L2
T2 brittle T3 brittle L1 brittle L2 brittle
T4 brittle T5 brittle 0
0
0 10 20 30 40 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
displacement [mm] displacement [mm]

Fig. 16. Comparison of the capacity curves of the considered sub-structural systems.

0.6

0.5

0.4
A
F/W

0.3
T2 brittle - mesh A
0.2
T2 brittle - mesh B

0.1 T2 ductile - mesh A

T2 ductile - mesh B
B 0
0 4 8 12 16 20
displacement [mm]

a b
Fig. 17. Sub-structural system T2, influence of the mesh size. (a) The considered mesh discretisations; (b) comparison in terms of capacity curves.
 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59 51

Fig. 18. Sub-structural system T2, failure mechanisms corresponding to two different mesh sizes.

Fig. 19. (a) View of the spatial sub-structural system for the analysis of out of-plane behaviour of the main façade of the church. (b) Target points considered in the out of
plane analyses.

Fig. 19 has been investigated with the aim to obtain both qualita-
tive and quantitative results relative to the out-of plane behaviour
of the main façade of the church without performing a nonlinear
three-dimensional analysis of the entire church, which has been
however reported in the next section. In order to take into ac-
count the influence due to the connection with the orthogonal
walls these latter have been considered for a length equal to about
the width of the façade.
If the connection between the longitudinal walls and the façade
are weak the collapse mechanism generally involves the entire
façade which, out of plane, behaves as a rigid body slender block
that overturns around a base cylindrical hinge. If the longitudinal
walls and the façade are well linked the out of plane behaviour
of the façade is difficult to evaluate by simple rigid body motion
analyses. In this latter case both the in-plane response of the lon-
gitudinal walls and the out-of plane response of the façade have to
Fig. 20. Qualitative representation of the modelling strategy of the connections be-
be taken into account.
tween orthogonal walls.
The intersection between walls is managed according to a mod-
elling strategy consistent to the proposed discrete element ap-
proach. Namely connections between perpendicular walls are dealt
with by inserting suitable joint elements capable of modelling per- With the aim to show the capability of the model to follow the
fect, imperfect or absence of interlocking. This behaviour has been post-peak behaviour, instead of a perfectly plastic behaviour with
obtained by introducing three-dimensional prismatic discrete ele- assigned ductility, as in the applications reported in the previous
ments endowed with six interfaces, one for each side of the prism. sections, a fracture energy has been associated to the tensile and
The interfaces are calibrated according to the connection proper- compressive behaviour of masonry, according to a degrading con-
ties and rule both the flexural and the sliding behaviour, the inter- stitutive law consistent to the model reported in Fig. 21. In par-
nal shear deformability at the joint elements have been neglected ticular a softening branch after the elastic phase is considered, Gt
hence each joint element is characterised by six degree of free- and Gc being the tensile and compressive fracture energy respec-
dom only. A qualitative representation of the modelling strategy tively. The unloading stiffness can be set as intermediate between
adopted for the connections between orthogonal walls is reported the elastic one and that oriented to the origin (Eot and Eoc in the
in Fig. 20. figure). In the applications reported in the following the unloading
52 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59

0.20
P1
P2
0.15 P3
P4
P5
0.10

F/W
0.05

0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25
displacement [mm]
Fig. 21. Adopted constitutive law according to a fracture energy model.
Fig. 22. Three dimensional sub-structural element: nonlinear force displacement
curves for the five different monitored displacements P1, P2, P3, P4, P5.

stiffness have been assumed oriented to the origin for tensile force
and equal to the initial elastic value for compressive force.
The applications here reported are relative to displacement con-
trolled nonlinear analyses making use of the well known arc length
procedure. First the application of constant vertical loads deriving
from the weight is considered, than a horizontal mass-proportional
loadings, in the direction orthogonal to the façade is applied.
In Fig. 22 the pushover curves of the five monitored displace-
ments are reported for the case of unlimited compressive fracture
energy Gc → ∞ and tensile fracture energy Gt = 0.1 N/mm. The re-
sults are expressed in terms of base shear, normalised with respect
to the total weight (22,701 kN) of the sub-structural element, as a
function of the displacements of five different target points, whose

Fig. 23. Views of the out of-plane collapse mechanism for three different value of the tensile fracture energy: (a) Gt = 0.1 N/mm, (b) Gt = 1 N/mm, (c) Gt → ∞ N/mm.
 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59 53

0.40 0.20

0.30 0.15

Gt=0.1 N/mm
F/W

F/W
0.20 0.10
Gt=0.02 N/mm
Gt=0.2 N/mm
0.10 Gt=0.5 N/mm 0.05 Reference model
Gt=1 N/mm
Gt=inf Less refined model
0.00 0.00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
0 5 10 15 20 25
displacement [mm]
displacement [mm]
Fig. 24. Pushover curves for different values of the tensile fracture energy.
Fig. 27. Influence of the mesh size: comparison in terms of pushover curves.

positions are specified in Fig. 19. It can be observed the different
level of the displacement corresponding to each target point, as
expected the maximum displacement correspond to the top of the
façade.
The collapse mechanism is characterised by a progressive de-
tachment of the façade from the orthogonal walls, mainly the in-
ner ones, with a horizontal cylindrical plastic hinge and a vertical
one in the tympanum, as reported in Fig. 23a.
In order to better assess the influence of the tensile fracture
energy, five more analyses have been performed in which the frac-
ture energy has been varied. In particular, besides the previously
considered case (Gt = 0.1 N/mm), the other values adopted for the
tensile fracture energy are Gt = 0.02, 0.2, 0.5, 1, ∞ N/mm. As the
fracture energy increases, the collapse mechanism moves from the
brittle detachment of the façade to a more enhanced implication of
the orthogonal walls, especially the first order of windows and the
second order of arches of the orthogonal walls, as better showed in
Fig. 23b and Fig. 23c in which the collapse mechanism associated
to two value of fracture energy are reported. Also the pushover
curves are strongly influenced by this parameter, as highlighted in
Fig. 24 where the pushover curves for the considered models are
compared, reporting the horizontal displacement of the top of the
tympanum vs the normalised base shear.
Finally, a further investigation, taking into account the influence
of the mesh size, is reported in the following. Namely, the case
previously considered, characterised by fracture energies Gc → ∞

Fig. 25. Views of the spatial sub-structural system for the analysis of out of-plane behaviour of the main façade of the church considering a less refined mesh.

Fig. 26. Views of the out of-plane collapse mechanism for the model with a less refined mesh.
54 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59
Fig. 28. Two axonometric views of the three-dimensional macro-element model implemented in the software code HiStrA.
Fig. 29. Plan positions of the target points considered in the numerical analyses.
and Gt = 0.1 N/mm, whose results, reported in Fig. 22, have been
obtained through a model with 8848 degrees of freedom according
to the mesh reported in Fig. 19 has been re-analysed by consider-
ing a less refined discretisation. In particular the new model, re-
ported in Fig. 25, has about an half computational cost being char-
acterised by 4720 degrees of freedom only.
As can be observed from Fig. 26 also the less refined mesh is
able to describe the collapse mechanism that is substantially coin-
cident to those previously obtained and reported in Fig. 23a.
The comparison between the pushover curves obtained with
the two different mesh sizes is reported in Fig. 27, where the hor-
izontal displacement of the point at the of the tympanum vs the
base shear normalised by the self-weight is reported. It can be ob-
served a very good agreement in the initial quasi-elastic phase and
a slightly greater rigidity in the less refined model in the nonlinear
range. However both the models correctly predict the limit of the
quasi-elastic range in terms of displacement and limit load.
4.3. The macro-element modelling of the entire church
In this sub-section, the capability of the proposed macro-
element approach to predict the main peculiarities of the non-
linear behaviour of the whole church is investigated. In particu-
lar the results of a three-dimensional model of the entire church
are analysed and compared to those already obtained for each sub-
structural system.
Two views of the three-dimensional representation of the
adopted model are reported in Fig. 28. The overall model is char-
acterised by 2208 quadrilateral elements, 170 triangular elements
and 358 rigid corner elements needed to connect orthogonal walls.
The total amount of degrees of freedom is 18,624.
The numerical results reported in the following are relative to
force controlled push-over analyses associated first to the appli-
cation of the gravity loads and then to an increasing horizontal
mass-proportional distribution of loadings. According to the sym-
metry of the structure two analyses in the longitudinal (X) di-
rection and a single analysis in the transversal (Y) direction are
considered.
Since the nonlinear behaviour of the church is dominated by
the interaction between in plane and the out-of plane responses
the results of the static nonlinear analyses are expressed with ref-
erence to different target points. The plan positions of the target
points, chosen for the representation of the push-over curves, are
displayed in Fig. 29, all the points are placed at the top of the cor-
responding walls.
In the applications reported in the following two models, that
differ for the adopted tensile ductility only, have been investigated.
In the ductile model an unlimited ductility under compressive and
tensile load is assumed while for the brittle model, unlimited duc-
tility in compression and a limited ductility in traction (μ = 10)
have been assumed. The other material properties have been set
according to a perfectly elasto-plastic law identified by the values,
already adopted and summarised in Table 1. In Fig. 30 some im-
ages of the failure mechanisms of the brittle model for the positive
and negative longitudinal directions are reported, in the same fig-
ures a qualitative representation of the damage distribution is re-
ported by adopting a grey scale. It can be observed how the dam-
age tends to concentrate in the connections between orthogonal
 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59
Fig. 30. Failure mechanism and damage distribution for the brittle model for the positive and negative longitudinal directions.
walls close to the openings and in the wall sections where inelas-
tic cylindrical hinges occur.
The positive longitudinal analysis (+X) is dominated by the out-
of plane response of the main façade, it can also be observed the
concentration of damage in the weaker sections of the orthogonal
walls and in the section of the columns of the nave subjected to
tensile loads. The negative longitudinal analysis (−X) corresponds
to that for which the façade is pushed towards the interior of the
church, this mechanism is also characterised by the in plane re-
sponse of the sub-structural elements L1 and L2 and the out-of
plane response of the internal sub-structural elements T2 and T3.
In Fig. 31 the normalised base-shear vs the monitored displace-
ments are reported. It can be observed the different level of the
displacement corresponding to each target displacement. This be-
haviour is confirmed by the collapse mechanisms ( Fig. 32) in
which the irregular distribution of damage and displacements are
apparent. This collapse behaviour has been often observed during
earthquakes and cannot be numerically simulated without con-
sidering a three-dimensional model able to simulate both the in
55
and out-of plane behaviour of masonry walls. In all the consid-
ered analyses the two monitored displacements ptT5a and ptT5b,
located in the central part of the façade, show the largest dis-
placements, highlighting that the collapse mechanism is mainly lo-
calised on the main façade of the church.
The ideal ductile model, exhibits larger strength and ductility of
the brittle model particularly for the analyses in the positive direc-
tion. Both the models confirm that the weakest failure mechanism
in the longitudinal direction is associated to the out-of plane be-
haviour of the façade with a partial involvement of the orthogonal
walls.
This behaviour has been already investigated in Section 4.2
with reference to a three-dimensional sub-structural system al-
though considering the presence of softening in the constitutive
law of the orthogonal springs. By comparing the results obtained
in the sub-structural system and those relative to the whole church
it can be observed a very good agreement in the behaviour of the
façade. This can be recognised by comparing the collapse mecha-
nisms (Figs. 23 and 30) and the push-over curves ( Figs. 24 and
56 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59

a 0.25 b 0.35
0.3 ptT1
0.2 ptT1
ptT2 0.25 ptT2
0.15 ptT3 ptT3
0.2
F/W

F/W
ptT5a ptT5a
0.1
0.15 ptT5b
ptT5b
ptT5c 0.1 ptT5c
0.05 ptL1T4 ptL1T4
0.05
ptL2 ptL2
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 0 20 40 60 80 100
displacement [mm] displacement [mm]

c d 0.50
0.40
ptT1 0.40
ptT2 ptT1
0.30 ptT2
ptT3 0.30
ptT3

F/W
ptT5a
F/W

0.20 0.20 ptT5a

ptT5b
ptT5b
ptT5c ptT5c
0.10 0.10
ptL1T4 ptL1T4
ptL2 ptL2
0.00 0.00
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
displacement [mm] displacement [mm]
Fig. 31. Capacity curves for the analyses in the longitudinal direction: (a) brittle model +X; (b) brittle model −X; (c) ductile model +X; (d) ductile model −X.

Fig. 32. Failure mechanism and damage distribution for the brittle model in the transversal direction.

31), in the latter comparison the case characterised by unlimited
fracture energy and that corresponding to unlimited ductility have
to be considered.
In Fig. 32 some views of the collapse mechanism relative to the
analysis of the brittle model subjected to a mass proportional dis-
tribution of transversal loads are reported. In this case the main
façade is mainly subjected to in plane loads and the collapse
mechanism is dominated by the out-of plane response of the sub-
systems L1 and L2 which are transversally linked by arches.
In Fig. 33 the capacity curves, for both the considered models,
are reported. Again the monitored displacements show very differ-
ent levels in the achieved displacements. The largest displacements
 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59 57

a 0.25 b 0.40

0.20
ptT1 0.30
ptT2 ptT1
0.15 ptT2
ptT3
0.20 ptT3

F/W
F/W

ptT5a
0.10 ptT5a
ptT5b
ptT5b
ptT5c 0.10 ptT5c
0.05
ptL1T4 ptL1T4
ptL2 ptL2
0.00 0.00
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
displacement [mm] displacement [mm]

Fig. 33. Capacity curves for the analysis in the transversal direction: (a) brittle and (b) ductile models.

0.25 Whole model

0.40 Whole model
Out of plane walls Out of plane walls
0.2
L1 0.30 L1

0.15 L2 L2
0.20
F/W
F/W

0.1
0.10
0.05

0 0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
displacement [mm] a displacement [mm]

0.35 Whole model 0.40 Whole model

0.3 Out of plane walls Out of plane walls

0.25 L1 0.30 L1
L2 L2
0.2
F/W

0.20
0.15
F/W

0.1 0.10
0.05
0 0.00
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
displacement [mm] b displacement [mm]

0.25 0.30
Whole model Whole model
Out of plane walls Out of plane walls
0.20 0.25
T1 T1
T2 T2
T3
0.20
0.15 T3
T4 T4
F/W

T5
0.15
T5
F/W

0.10
0.10
0.05 0.05

0.00 0.00
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
displacement [mm] displacement [mm]
c
Fig. 34. Contribution of the sub-systems to the base shear of the church for the brittle (on the left) and ductile (on the right) models: (a) positive longitudinal +X; (b)
negative longitudinal −X; (c) transversal directions Y.
58 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59

0.60 0.60

Base shear coefficient

Base shear coefficient
0.50 0.50
T1 (sub-system)
L1 (sub-system)
0.40 0.40 T1 (whole model)
L1 (whole model) T2 (sub-system)
T2 (whole model)
0.30 L2 (sub-system) 0.30
T3 (sub-system)
L2 (whole model) T3 (whole model)
0.20 0.20 T4 (sub-system)
T4 (whole model)
0.10 0.10 T5 (sub-system)
T5 (whole model)
0.00 0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 10 20 30 40
Displacement [mm] Displacement [mm]
a
0.8 0.60
0.7

Base shear coefficient

Base shear coefficient

0.50
0.6 T1 (sub-system)
T1 (whole model) 0.40
0.5 T2 (sub-system)
T2 (whole model)
0.4 0.30
T3 (sub-system)
L1 (sub-system)
0.3 T3 (whole model)
T4 (sub-system)
0.20 L1 (whole model)
0.2 T4 (whole model)
0.10 L2 (sub-system)
T5 (sub-system)
0.1
T5 (whole model) L2 (whole model)
0 0.00
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40
Displacement [mm] b Displacement [mm]
Fig. 35. Comparison between the capacity curves of the sub-systems and their response identified in the global numerical model: (a) brittle and (b) ductile models.

are those associated to the target points ptL2 and ptL1T4 located
to the sub-structural elements L1 and L2. It is interesting to ob-
serve the collapse mechanism of the L1 wall which is mainly char-
acterised by two horizontal cylindrical hinges: one at the base of
the wall and one at mid-height, as well as partial vertical cylindri-
cal hinge at the upper part.
The ductile model is characterised by a base shear coefficient of
about 0.37 while the brittle model reaches the ultimate state for a
value of 0.23.
4.4. Assessment of the contributions of the sub-structural systems to
the three dimensional model
In this subsection the contributions of each sub-structural sys-
tem to the total responses in the longitudinal and transversal di-
rection are reported. The results are expressed in terms of shear
normalised with respect to the total weight of the church (W =
56,582 kN) ( Fig. 34).
The results are reported for each of the three performed anal-
yses. The results relative to the brittle model are reported on the
left, while those relative to the ductile model are reported on the
right. For each picture the contribution of each sub-system located
along the load direction is considered separately, while the out-of
plane contributions of all the structural elements are considered
together.
In the longitudinal direction, the L1 sub-system is always stiffer
and stronger than the L2 sub-system. This leads to differential lon-
gitudinal displacements that cause a high structural irregularity.
In the transversal direction the strongest and stiffest among the
walls is the T2 sub-system, while the sub-system which provides
the lowest contribution is T1, probably because of its peripheral
position in the plan.
A further investigation of the contribution of each sub-system
to the global response can be found in Fig. 35, where the pushover
curves of the each single free sub-system, investigated in the previ-
ous section, have been superimposed with the corresponding con-
tribution to the three dimensional model. The results relative to
the brittle model are reported in Fig. 35a while those relative to
the ductile model are summarised in Fig. 35b.
It can be observed that, although the damage distributions of
the sub-systems in the global model are consistent to those ob-
tained in the local models, there are some differences in terms of
available resistance and ductility. For example the L2 and T2 sub-
systems in the local models are mainly characterised by in plane
rocking mechanism, while in the global model the presence of the
orthogonal walls orients their collapse mechanism towards a shear
failure. The interaction between orthogonal walls can justify the
over-strength that some of sub-systems show in the global model.
It is worth noticing that in the considered discrete element
model the crack distribution follows paths along the interfaces, in
which both cracking and sliding can occur. This is a phenomeno-
logical representation of failure, consistent with the considered
simplified approach. Diagonal cracks cannot be exactly replicated
by the 3D macro-model however the capability of the element to
exhibits nonlinear shear deformation allows to spread the shear di-
agonal behaviour along the element and to identify the presence of
the damage. This peculiarity represents a strong advantage of the
present approach with respect to the strategies based on the rigid
spring models [12,13].
5. Conclusions
In this paper an original modelling approach for the simulation
of the nonlinear behaviour of monumental masonry buildings
under static and seismic loadings is considered. The proposed
 B. Pantò et al. / Advances in Engineering Software 97 (2016) 40–59
approach is based on the concept of discrete-element discreti-
sation and has been conceived with the aim of capturing the
nonlinear behaviour of an entire structure, by means of an assem-
blage of several discrete-elements. Each discrete-element can be
characterised by different levels of complexity according to the
role of the element in the global model. With the aim to provide
a first numerical validation, the method has been applied to a
benchmark historical masonry building for which some results are
available in the scientific literature. Firstly, some sub-structural
systems of a typical basilica plan church have been analysed by
means of nonlinear static analyses. Secondly a three-dimensional
investigation of the entire church has been performed. The ob-
tained results demonstrated the capability of the proposed discrete
element method to consider the complex interaction between the
in and out-of plane response of masonry walls also in complex
structural layouts typical of basilica type churches.
It is worth noticing that the proposed approach lies in between
the more complex, computationally cumbersome and more de-
tailed nonlinear FE method and the classical limit approach. In the
latter sense it is expected that the proposed simplified approach
provides detailed enough information on the response of com-
plex masonry structures without cumbersome numerical proce-
dures. However, if more detailed information regarding reproduc-
tion of diagonal yield lines are desired either more refined meshes
or more detailed irregular geometry could be chosen.
Acknowledgements
This research has been partially supported by the Italian Net-
work of Seismic Engineering University Laboratories (ReLUIS). The
authors wish to thank doctor Davide Rapicavoli for his precious
contribution in the generation of the graphical user interface of
the software HiStrA and the anonymous reviewers for their con-
cerns and suggestions that contributed to improve the quality of
the paper.
References
[1] Lourenço PB. Computations on historic masonry structures. Prog Struct Eng
Mater 2002;4(3):301–19.
[2] Asteris PG, Chronopoulos MP, Chrysostomou CZ, Varum H, Plevris V,
Kyriakides N, et al. Seismic vulnerability assessment of historical masonry
structural systems. Eng Struct 2014;62–63:118–34.
[3] Betti M, Vignoli A. Assessment of seismic resistance of a basilica-type
church under earthquake loading: modelling and analysis. Adv Eng Softw
2008;39:258–83.
[4] Betti M, Vignoli A. Numerical assessment of the static and seismic be-
haviour of the basilica of Santa Maria all’Impruneta (Italy). Constr Build Mater
2011;25:4308–24.
[5] Lourenço PB, Nuno Mendes AT, Ramos LF. Seismic performance of the St.
George of the Latins church: lessons learned from studying masonry ruins. Eng
Struct 2012;40:501–18.
[6] Milani G, Valente M. Failure analysis of seven masonry churches severely dam-
aged during the 2012 Emilia-Romagna (Italy) earthquake: non-linear dynamic
analyses vs conventional static approaches. Eng Failure Anal 2015;54:13–56.
[7] Milani G, Valente M. Comparative pushover and limit analyses on seven ma-
sonry churches damaged by the 2012 Emilia-Romagna (Italy) seismic events:
possibilities of non-linear finite elements compared with pre-assigned failure
mechanisms. Eng Failure Anal 2015;47:129–61.
[8] Barbieri G, Biolzi L, Bocciarelli M, Fregonese L, Frigeri A. Assessing the seismic
vulnerability of a historical building. Eng Struct 2013;57:523–35.
[9] Milani G, Venturini G. Safety assessment of four masonry churches by a plate
and shell FE non-linear approach. J Perform Constr Facil 2013;27(1):27–42.
59
[10] Araujo A, Lourenço PB, Oliveira D, Leite J. Seismic assessment of St James
Church by means of pushover analysis – before and after the New Zealand
earthquake. Open Civil Eng J 2012;6:160–72.
[11] Marques R, Lourenço PB. Possibilities and comparison of structural component
models for the seismic assessment of modern unreinforced masonry buildings.
Comput Struct 2011;89:2079–91.
[12] Casolo S, Peña F. Rigid element model for in plane dynamics of masonry
walls considering hysteretic behaviour and damage. Earthquake Eng Struct Dyn
2007;36(8):1029–48.
[13] Casolo S, Sanjustb CA. Seismic analysis and strengthening design of a masonry
monument by a rigid body spring model: the “Maniace Castle” of Syracuse.
Eng Struct 2009;31(7):1447–59.
[14] Caliò I, Marletta M, Pantò B. A simplified model for the evaluation of the seis-
mic behaviour of masonry buildings. In: Proceedings of the 10th international
conference on civil, structural and environmental engineering computing. Stir-
lingshire, UK: Civil-Comp Press; 2005 Paper 195 from ISBN 1-905088-02-7.
[15] Caliò I, Marletta M, Pantò B. A new discrete element model for the evalua-
tion of the seismic behaviour of unreinforced masonry buildings. Eng Struct
2012;40:327–38.
[16] Marques R, Lourenço PB. Unreinforced and confined masonry buildings in seis-
mic regions: validation of macro-element models and cost analysis. Eng Struct
2014;64:52–67.
[17] Marques R. New methodologies for seismic design of unreinforced and con-
fined masonry structures. PhD thesis. Guimarães: University of Minho; 2012.
http://www.civil.uminho.pt/masonry.
[18] 3DMacro. Il software per le murature (3D computer program for the seismic
assessment of masonry buildings). Gruppo Sismica s.r.l., Catania, Italy. Release
3.0; March 2014. www.3dmacro.it.
[19] Caliò I, Cannizzaro F, D’Amore E, Marletta M, Pantò B. A new discrete-element
approach for the assessment of the seismic resistance of composite rein-
forced concrete-masonry buildings. In: Proceedings of AIP (American Institute
of Physics); 2008. 1020 (PART 1), p. 832–39.
[20] Marques R, Lourenço PB. Pushover seismic analysis of quasi-static tested con-
fined masonry buildings through simplified model. In: Proceedings of the 15th
International Brick and Block Masonry Conference, Florianopolis; 2012.
[21] Marques R, Lourenço PB. A model for pushover analysis of confined masonry
structures: implementation and validation. Bull Earthquake Eng 2013;11:2133–
50.
[22] Caddemi S, Caliò I, Cannizzaro F, Pantò B. A new computational strategy for the
seismic assessment of infilled frame structures. In: Proceedings of the 14th in-
ternational conference on civil, structural and environmental engineering com-
puting, CC 2013, Civil-Comp proceedings; 2013 Paper 6.77 from ISBN 978-1-
905088-57-7.
[23] Caliò I, Pantò B. A macro-element modelling approach of infilled frame struc-
tures. Comput Struct 2014;143:91–107.
[24] Pantò B. The seismic modeling of masonry structure, an innovative macro-
element approach. PhD thesis in structural engineering, in italian. University
of Catania; 2007.
[25] Cannizzaro F. The seismic behavior of historical buildings: a macro-element
approach. PhD thesis in structural engineering, in Italian. University of Catania;
2010.
[26] Mele E, De Luca A, Giordano A. Modelling and analysis of a basilica under
earthquake loading. J Cult Heritage 2003;4:355–67.
[27] Caddemi S, Caliò I, Cannizzaro F, Pantò B, Topping BHV, Iványi P. The seis-
mic assessment of historical masonry structures. In: Proceedings of the twelfth
international conference on computational structures technology. Stirlingshire,
UK: Civil-Comp Press; 2014 Paper 5.78 from ISBN 978-1-905088-61-4.
[28] Caliò I, Cannizzaro F, Marletta M. A discrete element for modeling masonry
vaults. Adv Mater Res 2010;133-134:447–52.
[29] Tomazevic M, Elnashai AS, Dowling PJ. Earthquake-resistant design of masonry
building. Series on innovation in structures and construction, vol. 1. London:
Imperial College Press; 2006.
[30] Eurocode 6: Design of masonry structures, Part 1-1: general rules for buildings.
Rules for reinforced and unreinforced masonry. ENV 1996-1-1: 1995 (CEN,
Brussels); 1995.
[31] Turnsek V, Sheppard P. The shear and flexural resistance of masonry walls. In:
Proceedings of the international research conference on earthquake engineer-
ing; IZIIS, Skopje; 1981. p. 517–73.
[32] Corradi M, Borri A, Vignoli A. Experimental study on the determination of
strength of masonry walls. Constr Build Mater 2003;17:325–37.
[33] Turnsek V, Cacovic F. Some experimental result on the strength of brick ma-
sonry walls. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Brick Masonry Confer-
ence; Stoke-on-Trent; 1971. p. 149–56.
[34] Mele E, De Luca A. Behaviour and modelling of masonry church buildings in
seismic regions. In: Proceedings of the second international symposium on
earthquake resistant engineering structures, ERES ’99, Catania, Italy; 1999.