A multifield model for blocky materials based on multiscale description

A multiscale approach to model the mechanical behaviour of blocky materials that exhibit microscale features is proposed. From the description of these materials at microscopic level, as systems of interacting rigid elements, a formula for the stored energy is given in order to derive the macroscopic constitutive equations of a linear elastic equivalent multifield continuum. This continuum results. to be a micropolar continuum suitable to describe the mechanical behaviour of brick/block masonry, as well as jointed rocks or matrix/particle composites, accounting for the size, the orientation and the arrangement of the elements. This multiscale approach proves to be effective also in the non-linear framework. The material non-linear behaviour is represented through internal constraints derived from delimitations imposed to the interactions of the block system. Some numerical examples show the correspondence between discrete and continuum modelling, both in the linear and in the non-linear frame. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.