Numerical simulation of laterite confined masonry building subjected to quasi-static monotonic lateral loading

ABSTRACT The paper attempts to establish a relationship between strength of laterite units and mortar to predict masonry strength and elastic modulus of laterite masonry based on material properties reported in literature. The properties obtained from derived analytical models were used as input parameters for finite element analysis (FEA) of laterite confined masonry (LCM) buildings under quasi-static loading. Numerical studies were performed on LCM buildings up to four stories to study seismic behaviour. LCM buildings upto three storeys demonstrated stresses within the permissible limits for the wall thickness of 150 mm, while four storey LCM building showed high stress concentration exceeding the permissible limits, for which ground storey wall thickness may be increased to 300 mm. One storey LCM building resisted lateral load equivalent to 1.02 g of its mass, while the corresponding values for two, three and four storey LCM buildings were 0.40 g, 0.23 g and 0.13 g, respectively. LCM buildings up to three storey demonstrated maximum damage index in the range of 0.8 to 0.85, indicating collapse prevention state. Howbeit, four storey LCM building exhibited damage index of 0.91 at maximum displacement, which corresponds to collapse state.