Seismic assessment of stone masonry using distinct element method

The out-of-plane seismic assessment of historic masonry structures in current practice is based on the so-called mechanism method that makes use of rigid-body kinematics for reproducing the expected failure mechanisms. The main drawback of this procedure is the prior establishment of the collapse mechanism and the constraints related to the assumption of a rigid-body kinematics. Aiming at overcoming both limitations, an approach based on the Distinct Element Method is proposed, which provides the expected failure mechanism and compute the capacity curve, taking into account the quality of masonry and the effectiveness of the connections. The approach is then applied to assess the seismic fragility of a monumental stone masonry building, the library wall of Casamari abbey in Veroli, and the results are compared to the classical mechanism method.