A variationally coupled phase field and interface model for fracture in masonry

This paper presents a computational model for unreinforced masonry structures, where softening plasticity describes the behavior of mortar joints, while brittle phase-field accounts fracture in bricks. The governing equations are derived an energetic framework, ensuring variational and thermodynamic consistency, taking into account non-associative which allows capturing their experimentally observed low dilatancy. A numerical solution scheme based on algorithmic decoupling is proposed rigorous quasi-static evolution problem. presented methodology applied to four examples, showing that most fundamental failure mechanisms captured complex crack topologies can be computed. In addition, results compared both experimental data reported literature.