Analytical Approach to Collapse Mechanisms of Circular Masonry Arch

Abstract

The arch is a very common masonry structure that has been studied extensively in the past. Despite this, no analytical methods exist that can adequately evaluate the collapse mechanisms and their related loads. This paper presents a collapse approach that takes into account the small tensile and shear strengths of masonry material according to a no‐tension constitutive model. Some appropriate analytical functions are proposed that can reproduce the collapse mechanisms and the values of the associated horizontal limit thrusts at the arch's skewback. This approach also provides the minimum value for the thickness‐span ratio, the safety margin, and the maximum value of uniformly distributed vertical loads (load parameter). The collapse mechanisms' shapes and the horizontal limit thrusts are then analyzed as a function of the loads and the arch's geometry. In addition, the findings are compared to the results of a finite‐element analysis.