Limit analysis of masonry circular buttressed arches under horizontal loads

Arches are among the most widely used and characterizing elements in masonry structures, particularly in historical buildings and churches. They are susceptible to severe damage due to seismic actions, excessive vertical loads, or support settlements. While an exhaustive literature is available for the behaviour of arched structures under vertical loads and support settlements, less attention has been devoted to their behaviour under horizontal seismic actions. In this paper, limit analysis approach to circular buttressed arches under horizontal loads is applied through a procedure developed by the authors based on non-linear programming technique. The suggested procedure is automatic, and structural engineers can easily implement it in a computer algebra system to identify the failure mechanism and the position of the hinges that minimises the horizontal load multiplier.