Department of Civil Engineering
University of Minho, Azurem, P-4800 Guimaraes, Portugal
ABSTRACT
A key point related to the reliability of numerical analysis is to know the importance of the material parameters and its influence on the structural response. This paper shows the results from a sensitivity study of masonry structures with respect to the material parameters. Both, micro-modeling, in which units and joints are represented separately, and macro-modeling, in which units and joints are represented as a continuum, are considered. The analysis concentrates on masonry shear walls which, traditionally, have been the most used configuration to test masonry structures. It is shown that, for practical purposes, the numerical analysis of masonry structures, is only slightly sensitive to reasonable variations in the material data.
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