ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods

in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering

M. Papadrakakis, D.C. Charmpis, N.D. Lagaros, Y. Tsompanakis (eds.)
Rethymno, Crete, Greece, 13–16 June 2007

NUMERICAL MODELLING OF WALL–FLOOR CONNECTIONS

IN MASONRY STRUCTURES WITHIN MINING REGIONS
A. Wawrzynek1, A. Cińcio1, D. Mrozek 1
1
Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering,
Akademicka 5, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
andrzej.wawrzynek@polsl.pl, andrzej.cincio@polsl.pl, dawid.mrozek@polsl.pl

Keywords: Plastic-Damage Model of Masonry, Structural Dynamics, Rigid And Hinge Con-
nection Between Wall & Floor.

Abstract. Numerical models of several typical masonry buildings are constructed. Building
responses (expressed by level of effort, stresses and degradation level) to semi-seismic ground
tremors for two limiting models of joints between floors and walls (the pivotal one and the
fixing one) are compared. The plastic degradation BARCELONA Model proposed for con-
crete by Lubliner is applied to model the building materials (concrete and masonry). This
model takes into account two different degradation mechanisms separately for compression
and tension. To obtain a realistic evaluation of the hazard areas of masonry buildings, sev-
eral numerical analyses of several models of construction are investigated. Typical buildings
with different number of floors are analyzed. The numerical models are subjected to digitally
recorded kinematical enforcements (with different spectral characteristics) which are the
most dangerous for real buildings. The nonlinear plastic-damaged model of material permits
to obtain maps of stresses without non-physical values (e.g. stress concentration) and maps of
degradations, which are qualitatively similar to crack areas observed at damaged buildings.
 A. Wawrzynek, A. Cińcio, D. Mrozek

1 INTRODUCTION
In Poland, in mining regions a great hazard for masonry residential buildings are semi-
seismic earth tremors, which potential energy can exceed 1010 [J] (25 out of about 1800 trem-
ors) and with the amplitude of the horizontal acceleration of the ground exceeding 2 [m/s2].
These tremors are – beside horizontal deformations of the ground – the main source of nu-
merous damages (e.g. cracks) of load-bearing and division walls.
Numerical models of several typical masonry buildings – taking into accounts such struc-
tural elements like floors, headers, division walls, etc. – were constructed. For joints between
floors and walls two limiting models were assumed: the pivotal one and fixing one. The plas-
tic degradation BARCELONA Model (BM) proposed for concrete by Lubliner in 1989 [1] and
modified for masonry by Cińcio [4, 5] was applied to model the building elements materials
(concrete and masonry). The BM was also implemented to the finite element package
ABAQUS. This model takes into account two different degradation mechanisms separately
for compression and tension. A level of degradation is described by degradation parameters,
which values depend on two characteristics obtained in the cyclic laboratory tests respectively
for compression and tension [1, 2].
To obtain a realistic evaluation of the hazard area of masonry buildings some numerical
analyses of several building models were investigated. Typical buildings with different num-
ber of floors were analyzed. The numerical models were subjected to digitally recorded kin-
ematical enforcement (horizontal accelerations) with different spectral characteristics the most
dangerous for real buildings.
Nonlinear plastic damaged material model permitted to obtain maps of stresses without
non-physical values (without stress concentrations) and maps of degradation, which qualita-
tively are similar to cracks observed at damaged buildings. The most hazard areas of building
walls were determined (not presented here).

2 BUILDING NUMERICAL MODELS

A problem of numerical modelling of building belongs to rather complex research tasks
not only because of geometry of analyzed mechanical system (that is a spatial combination of
walls and floors) but also because of complicated material properties, especially for its non-
elastic range (including its degradation) and dynamic (or cyclic) loading. Modelling of load-
bearing wall and floor connections can be important for numerical solution (using e.g. finite
element method) of static and dynamic problems of building constructions.
To obtain the best and the widest possible results, series of different numerical models of
different Polish typical masonry buildings are prepared. It is concern with the following kinds
of dwelling houses:
• two-storey ones – Fig. 1a & b,
• three-storey ones – symmetrical and unsymmetrical– which horizontal projection is near-
square– Fig. 2a&b,
• elongated in one direction houses – Fig. 3,
• multi-storey ones – Fig. 4.
All models contain a great number of window openings and doorways and also stairway
openings so they are very sensitive on dynamic loads. Assumed material properties and geo-
metrical dimensions are similar to real constructions (see next point for details).

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 A. Wawrzynek, A. Cińcio, D. Mrozek

Figure 1: a) Two-storey dwelling house and b) its 3D cross-section.

Figure 2: Three-storey dwelling houses: a) non-symmetrical one, b) symmetrical one.

All analyzed buildings have a masonry walls cooperating with monolithic reinforced floors.
It is assumed that all houses have continues reinforced footing. The rest of the details are as-
sembled in the Table 1 and their numerical models are presented in Fig. 1 – 4. The 4 nodal
shell finite elements (with 6 degrees of freedom - three displacements and three rotations) are
used for FEM analyses. In each model two kinds of connection between wall and floor are
taken into account: full hinged and full rigid ones. Ground flexibility is neglected by assum-
ing non-slidable and non-flexible constrains.

Construction model from:

PARAMETER Unit
Fig. 1 Fig. 2a Fig. 2b Fig. 3 Fig. 4
Number of storeys 2 3 3 5 -
Horizontal dimensions 12,0x8,0 8,7x8,7 16,0x8,0 12,0x6,0 m
Construction high 6,4 9,4 8,6 15,4 m
Thickness of external wall 38 38 38 38 cm
Thickness of internal wall 25 25 25 25 cm
Thickness of floor 12 15 15 12 cm
Lintel high 20 15 15 20 cm
Size of FE 20 15 20 20 cm
Number of FE 15 785 26 512 35 992 21 452 34 878 elements
Table 1: Geometric and numerical data set of the analysed models.

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 A. Wawrzynek, A. Cińcio, D. Mrozek

Figure 3: Two-storey dwelling house with elongated horizontal projection.

Figure 4: a) Multi-storey building and b) its 3D cross-section.

3 PLASTIC-DEGRADATION MODEL OF BUILDING MATERIALS

The Barcelona Model can be applied to numerical analyses, if the experimental parameters
and material characteristics are known; meaning:
• (Initial values of) Young’s modulus E and Poisson’s ratio ν.
• Initial value (in the first cycle of loading process) of the yield stresses for uniaxial com-
pression σ c 0 and tension σt 0 and for biaxial compression σ b 0 .
• Two independent hardening/softening rules: separately for uniaxial compression
σ c = σ c ( ε c ) and uniaxial tension σ t = σ t ( ε t ) . These rules determine changes (in-
crease/decrease) of the yield stress values for both cases during the loading process.
Hardening curves also describe changes of the shape of the yield surface.

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 A. Wawrzynek, A. Cińcio, D. Mrozek

• Two monotonic degradation functions (separately for compression d c = d c ( ε pl ) and ten-

sion dt = dt ( ε pl ) ) that describe the level of local material degradation expressed by a de-
creasing of the stiffness.
All applied (except functional characteristics which can be found in [3], [4]) parameters are
presented in Table 2.

Parameter Brickwork Concrete Unit

ρ 1800 2500 kg/m3
E 2,1 30,0 GPa
ν 0,25 0,17 -
σc0 1,407 5,333 MPa
σb0 1,871 6,186 MPa
σt 0 0,4 1,6 MPa
Table 2: Assumed material parameters.

The following kinds of loading are taken into account:

• Only static load – dead load and live load (not presented here).
• Simultaneously static and dynamic loads.
• Horizontal harmonic ground enforcement with frequency approximately equal to the first
natural frequency of the analyzed model.
• Vertical harmonic ground enforcement with frequency equal to the natural frequency of
the floor of the model.

a) b) 1,00
X- component Y- component
1,50

0,50
1,00
acceleration [m/s 2]
acceleration [m/s 2]

0,50
0,00

0,00

-0,50
-0,50

tim e [s]
tim e [s] -1,00
-1,00
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5

Figure 5: Horizontal components of the ground acceleration: a) ax and b) ay.

Dynamical loads are defined as the kinematical enforcements provided on the basis of real
recorded tremors (accelerations) of the ground. One example of the used acceleration curve is
presented in the Fig. 5. Majority of the earth tremors recorded in Poland are caused by copper
and coal mining activities. Very often acceleration curves (like in Fig. 5) consist of two parts:
first one less dangerous with high frequency and the second one with lower frequency (be-
tween 3 and 8 Hz) which is closer to main natural frequencies of the analysed buildings.
Duration of the lower frequency parts of these tremors is from 0.5 to 3 seconds and their
acceleration course contains only several high dangerous peaks.

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 A. Wawrzynek, A. Cińcio, D. Mrozek

4 MODAL ANALYSIS
In the first step of that investigation the dynamical properties of the building models with
two variants of connection between walls and floors are compared. Using finite element
method, several basic natural forms of vibration and values of natural frequencies are deter-
mined for both connection variants. As examples for the models from Fig. 2 (symmetrical and
non-symmetrical ones) obtained values are presented in Table 3 and the first form of vibration
in Fig. 6 & 7.

Figure 6: First form of the free vibration of the non-symmetrical model with: a) rigid and b) hinged connections.

Figure 7: First form of the free vibration of the symmetrical model with a) rigid and b) hinged connections.

RIGID CONNECTION HINGE CONNECTION

FORM UNIT
non-symmetrical symmetrical non-symmetrical symmetrical
1 6,9448 6,6391 6,8715 6,5901
2 6,9817 7,1002 6,9434 7,0454
3 11,315 9,8854 11,267 9,8627 Hz
4 17,670 17,492 16,822 16,248
5 18,844 17,968 17,944 17,432
Table 3: Frequencies of free vibration for models from Fig. 2.

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 A. Wawrzynek, A. Cińcio, D. Mrozek

It is easy to notice that values of natural frequencies differ slightly. Also their forms do not
differ considerable.
The three first natural forms of vibrations of the model from Fig. 3 (two deflections from
vertical position and torsion- marked in Table 4) and values of frequencies are similar too.

FORM RIGID CONNECTION HINGE CONNECTION UNIT

1 10,209 10,056
2 10,669 10,504
3 14,004 11,517
Hz
4 15,300 12,684
5 18,426 12,869
6 18,626 13,886
Table 4: Frequencies of free vibration for model from Fig.3.

5 STRESS AND DEGRADATION ANALYSES

To investigate the sensitivity of the calculations in connection modeling, it has been made
a lot of tremor simulations using:
• the real recorded ground acceleration with different frequency characteristic.
• the harmonic horizontal and vertical enforcements with frequency approximate to the
natural free vibration of the structure.

5.1 The real enforcement

Calculations were preceded by numerous analyses of the strongest tremors (recorded on
the mining regions). From the wide set of data, courses of acceleration which characteristic
frequencies are close to the dynamic characteristic of the analysed structures have been used
in numerical simulations. For example, the distribution of the parameter dt (tension degrada-
tion caused by the enforcement from Fig. 5, twice greater then real one) is presented in Fig. 8.
The distribution of the vertical normal component of the stress tensor σ22 can be compared in
Fig. 9.

Figure 8: Degradation parameter dt for: a) the rigid and b) the hinged wall-floor connections.

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 A. Wawrzynek, A. Cińcio, D. Mrozek

Figure 9: Vertical normal stress distribution (in masonry part) for: a) rigid and b) hinged wall-floor connections.

The differences between theses two models of connection can be neglected. Only the rein-
forced headers for the hinged model are a little more degraded then for the rigid one. The
stress fields are also very similar. Responses of the building, expressed by changing in time of
the displacements of some selected points of the models, are also almost the same. The
biggest relative horizontal displacement (difference between the top and bottom points of the
building from Fig. 2) can be seen in Fig. 10. The similar results are for other kinds of build-
ings.

9.0
7.0 Rigid

5.0 Hinged
Displacement [mm]

3.0
1.0
-1.0
-3.0
-5.0
-7.0
-9.0
Time [s]
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50

Figure 10: Relative displacements in time for to connection models.

5.2 Horizontal harmonic enforcement

Another kind of dynamic analysis is tracing changes of building state, which are caused by
harmonic dynamic load with frequency closed to one of the building free vibration frequency.
Below (as an example), the results of the calculations in which only models from Fig. 1 were
taken into account are shown. Fig. 11 illustrates final level of the total degradation parameter
d for the most degraded wall. Only very small parts of the wall (Fig. 11b) with hinged wall-
floor connection are greater degraded in comparison with the second model (Fig. 11a). Also

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 A. Wawrzynek, A. Cińcio, D. Mrozek

difference between distributions and level of the horizontal normal component of the stress
tensor σ11 are not significant – Fig. 12.

Figure 11: Distribution of the total degradation parameter for a) the rigid and b) the hinged connections.

Figure 12: Distribution of the horizontal normal stress tensor component for a) the rigid and b) the hinged con-
nections.

5.3 Vertical harmonic enforcement

In engineering practice in Poland, a vertical component of ground acceleration is not taken
into account. As we can expect, even vertical harmonic enforcement with frequency approxi-
mately equal to the natural free vibration of the floors, caused considerable damages in floor
connected with walls by hinge, what is illustrated in Fig. 13&14. Also lintels are exposed on
the greater damage level.

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 A. Wawrzynek, A. Cińcio, D. Mrozek

Figure 13: Total degradation parameter d for a) the rigid and b) the hinged wall-floor connections.

Figure 14: Stress tensor component σ22 a) the rigid and b) the hinged wall-floor connections.

6 CONCLUSIONS
• Solutions of all models described only by elastic material model contain some non-
realistic areas where level of stresses (effort) is higher then material strength – also some-
times for static loads. On the basis of the Barcelona Model the stress level is lower be-
cause of stress redistribution. The stress peaks are removed for real typical dynamic
(semi-seismic) loads.
• The Barcelona Model has a low sensitivity (in extreme loading conditions) to a type of
the connection between wall and floor.
• For lower building models, their displacement responses (DR) for earth tremors are more
advantageous for the BM – differences between amplitudes sometimes achieved 30%.
For higher buildings not only amplitudes are different but also character of the construc-
tion response is different for different material models.

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 A. Wawrzynek, A. Cińcio, D. Mrozek

• DR of non-symmetrical buildings are higher but not important from engineering point of
view. Also a level of degradation of the first kind of houses is higher in comparison with
symmetrical one.
• Non-symmetrical model is more degraded in comparison with symmetrical one because
of a higher influence of the torsion natural form of vibration.
• Effort of lintels under window openings is higher for hinged models.
• Dynamical numerical calculations should be preceded by analysis of an applied semi-
seismic enforcement.

7 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The financial assistance from:
• The Project REPROCITY within 6 FP contract MTKD-CT-2004-509775 “Research and
Training on Restoration and Protection of The City Environment in Industrial Regions”
• The Ministry of Scientific Research and Information Technology within the grant num-
ber 7 T07E 021 28
is gratefully acknowledged herewith.
The numerical calculations were carried out in the Academic Computer Centre
CYFRONET-AGH within the grant number KBN/SGI2800/PŚląska/023/2003.

REFERENCES
[1] Lubliner J., Oliver J., Oller S., Oñate E., A plastic-damage model for concrete. Interna-
tional Journal of Solids and Structures, vol. 25, 1989, 299 - 329.
[2] Fenves L., J. Lee J.: A plastic-damage concrete model for earthquake analysis of dams.
Earthquake Eng. and Structural Dynamics, vol. 27, pp. 937 - 956, 1998.
[3] Cińcio A., Numerical analysis of dynamic resistance on semi-seismic tremors of low
buildings with application of spatial object models, (in Polish), PhD Thesis, Library of
the Silesian Univ. of Tech., Gliwice, 2004.
[4] Wawrzynek A., Cińcio A., Adaptation of a plastic-damage concrete model for masonry
material subjected to cyclic load, Proc. of VIII Int. Conf. on Computational Plasticity,
COMPLAS VIII, Barcelona, 2005.
[5] Cińcio A., Wawrzynek A., Plastic-damage macro-model for non-linear masonry struc-
tures subjected to cyclic or dynamic loads, Analytical Models and New Concepts in
Concrete and Masonry Structures - AMCM2005, Gliwice-Ustroń June 12 - 14,
2005, 131 - 132.

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