Mesoscopic aspects of the computational homogenization with meshless modeling for masonry material

Abstract

The multiscale homogenization scheme is becoming a diffused tool for the analysis of heterogeneous materials as masonry since it allows dealing with the complexity of formulating closed-form constitutive laws by retrieving the material response from the solution of a unit cell (UC) boundary value problem (BVP). The robustness of multiscale simulations depends on the robustness of the nested macroscopic and mesoscopic models. In this study, specific attention is paid to the meshless solution of the UC BVP under plane stress conditions, comparing performances related to the application of linear displacement or periodic boundary conditions (BCs). The effect of the geometry of the UC is also investigated since the BVP is formulated for the two simpliest UCs, according to a displacement-based variational formulation assuming the block indefinitely elastic and the mortar joints as zero-thickness elasto-plastic interfaces. It will be showed that the meshless discretization allows obtaining some advantages with respect to a standard FE mesh. The influence of the UC morphology as well as the BCs on the linear and nonlinear UC macroscopic response is discussed for pure modes of failure. The results can be constructive in view of performing a general Fe·Meshless or Meshless2 analysis.