Method for Predicting the Failure Load of Masonry Wall Panels Based on Generalized Strain-Energy Density

This paper develops a generalized strain-energy density (GSED)-based method to predict the failure loads of laterally loaded masonry wall panels. The method reveals the relationship between the failure loads of the base/test and the new masonry wall panels in the sense of GSED and directly uses the existing testing data in the predicting task. First, the GSED values of the base panel are extracted from its finite-element analysis (FEA) result. Second, similar zones between the base and the new wall panels are matched through the criterion for matching zone similarity. Then, the GSED values on the base wall panel are projected into similar zones on the new wall panel. Finally, the GSED-based parameter is proposed to relate the failure load of the new wall panel. The case studies validate the GSED-based method by comparing the existing yield line method and the FEA method. The GSED-based method explores an innovative way of structural analysis by combining the FEA and cellular automata methods and directly applying testing data. (C) 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.