A. M. Fathy  J. Planas  J. M. Sancho      

Anales de la Mecánica de la Fractura, nº 24 . 2007 . Pág. 667 -662
Ver (.pdf): 11-8

Resumen: Brick walls of ceramic without any mortar covering or paint are used extensively in building façades in Spain. Their good appearance and high resistance to environmental attacks are the reasons of the widespread use of such walls in Spain. One of the most used masonry wall system is based on non-bearing panels hanging partially, about two thirds of the brick width, on the edge beams of the structural skeleton. The edge beam is veneered with special thinner bricks to achieve the visual continuity of the façade. A considerable number of these walls show cracking. In this work, finite element simulations were performed in order to gain insight on the causes of cracking. A special finite element, based on the strong discontinuity analysis and the cohesive crack theory is used in the numerical simulations. The results agree with the overall cracking patterns observed.

Localización: Burgos

Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shamas University, Cairo, Egypt.
Departamento de Ciencia de Materiales, E.T.S. de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C/ Profesor Aranguren s/n, 28040 Madrid, España.
Escuela Politécnica Superior, Campus de Montepríncipe, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, Boadilla del Monte 28668 Madrid, Spain.