ABSTRACT
As substitute for expensive, time consuming testing of large masonry structures, an accurate numerical predictive tool is of great value. Reference behaviour can be analysed as verification for more elegant, less computer intensive numerical modelling strategies. Here a discrete approach, capturing the most important failure modes by true, discontinuous deformation is reported. Available experimental results on the micro-and meso-scale are employed for verification of the strategy. The important large scale structural phenomenon of restrained shrinkage is analysed subsequently and the resulting behaviour employed as reference for a simplified modelling strategy to render large scale analyses viable.
