LOCALIZATION ANALYSIS OF AN ORTHOTROPIC MULTI-SURFACE PLASTICITY MODEL UNDER UNIAXIAL STRESS

Abstract

Numerical simulations of masonry structures are often based on continuum macromodelling approaches that need constitutive laws able to phenomenologically reproduce the behavior of the material. To capture the deformation process up to failure, appropriate softening laws are needed to take into account the contraction of the yield stress domain caused by cracking and crushing. It is well known that softening may lead to localization of inelastic strain. This paper focuses on localization analysis of an orthotropic macro-scale model in the framework of multi-surface plasticity, which describes the in-plane behavior of masonry structures. Preliminary results reported in this short paper are limited to uniaxial stress states. Analytical localization conditions are first derived for uniaxial stress states with principal axes aligned with the material axes of orthotropy. Then, localization analysis is extended to an arbitrary angle between the principal stress axes and the axes of orthotropy.