ARAÚJO, ANA S.1; OLIVEIRA, DANIEL V.2; LOURENÇO, PAULO B. 3

1) PhD Student, ISISE, University of Minho, Dept. of Civil Eng., Portugal, E-mail: ana.araujo@civil.uminho.pt

2) Associate Professor, ISISE, University of Minho, Dept. of Civil Eng., Portugal, E-mail: danvco@civil.uminho.pt

3) Professor, ISISE, University of Minho, Dept. of Civil Eng., Portugal, E-mail: pbl@civil.uminho.pt

It has been well documented by post-earthquakes surveys that the global seismic behaviour of masonry structures depends significantly on the efficiency of the connections between vertical and horizontal structural elements. This paper aims to contribute to the study of the seismic behaviour of connections strengthened with injected anchors. An experimental campaign including several anchor injections in masonry walls was carried out at the University of Minho formed the basis for the development of the numerical study presented in this paper. A detailed 3D finite element model, which reproduces the experimental tests setup, was constructed and calibrated in accordance with the experimental results. The validated numerical model shows a reliable outcome and was also used as a “numerical laboratory”, where the sensitivity of the results to the input of material parameters, geometrical features and actions were efficiently analysed, offering invaluable information in the understanding of the behaviour of the connections in diversified conditions.

Keywords: Connections, numerical analysis, seismic behaviour, injected anchors.