The non-smooth tale of multiple leaf masonry walls

In the present paper has been reported the Non-Smooth Contact Dynamics method (NSCD) used for the damage evaluation of the multiple leaf masonry walls of the medieval fortress of Arquata del Tronto, strongly affected by the last Centre Italy earthquakes of August and October 2016. Pursuing this approach, a system of rigid blocks has been used for the assembly of the masonry structure. By means of contacts between blocks, which are governed by the Signorini’s impenetrability condition and by dry-friction Coulomb’s law, the building exhibits discontinuous dynamics. Finally, the NSCD method has proved to be an effective instrument for investigating the dynamical behavior of the masonry structures under the ground seismic accelerations. Indeed, several possible failure mechanisms have been confirmed through the numerical results, which have given a deep insight into the seismic vulnerability of this damaged medieval fortress.