3d Computational Limit Analysis Of Masonry Structures

As well as being of historic interest, masonry structures still form the backbone of the UK’s transport infrastructure, with approaching 50% of all bridge spans being masonry. Unfortunately our understanding of their behaviour is still poor and appropriate tools to analyse them are now urgently required. Many masonry structures were traditionally constructed using large masonry blocks and weak mortar. Thus in analysis it is often reasonable to neglect the tensile strength of the mortar and to assume that at collapse the structure essentially acts as an assemblage of rigid elements. Hence this project will involve extending existing 2D rigid block analysis software (e.g. http://www.limitstate.com/ring) to 3D, permitting domes, skew masonry arch bridges, etc. to be analysed. An interest in computer programming would be an advantage.