The use of continuum models for analyzing adobe structures

Abstract

As it is known, the adobe structures have a high seismic vulnerability principally due to the low material strength and sometimes due to the inadequate structural configuration. One way for understanding the seismic behaviour of these structures is by experimental tests. However, those are costly and sometimes not easy to make. An alternative for this is the analysis of adobe structures by numerical tools with the possibility to make parametric studies for understanding the behaviour of different geometrical configurations. In a previous work, some adobe material parameters have been calibrated based on a cyclic in-plane test. In this paper, that work was extended to a numerical modelling of the non-linear dynamic behaviour of an adobe module experimentally tested at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. For this, a continuum model in the finite element program Abaqus/Explicit, was used to represent the adobe masonry as a homogeneous and isotropic material.