The NOSA-ITACA code for historic masonry constructions

This paper describes the numerical modelling of the structural behaviour of the church of San Francesco in Lucca and the Rognosa Tower in San Gimignano. The constitutive equation of no-tension materials views masonries as nonlinear elastic materials with zero tensile strength and infinite or bounded compressive strength. As such equation has proven to be able to realistically model the most significant aspects of masonry's behaviour, it has been implemented in the finite element code NOSA-ITACA for solving static and dynamic problems of solids not withstanding tension. The numerical analyses of the church and the tower have been conducted via the NOSA-ITACA code. These case studies highlight the important role of numerical tools in assessing the mechanical behaviour of historical masonry buildings subjected to earthquakes, as well as in planning strengthening operations on such structures.