Abstract

A computational method is proposed for the lower-bound limit analysis of masonry arches with multiple failure sections. Main motivation is the observation that, not only the position, but also the orientation of the failure sections in an arch might not be known in advance in practical applications. The lower-bound limit analysis problem is formulated as a straightforward linear programming problem. Numerical simulations highlight the predicting capabilities of the proposed approach, enabling an accurate and safe prediction of the loading capacity of masonry arches.