SiDMACIB: A digital tool for an automated structurally informed design of interlocking masonry assemblages

This manuscript presents a new computational form-finding tool developed for a structurally informed design of masonry interlocking assemblages. Applying the concave contact model of limit analysis to corrugated joints, a novel static problem with seven options for the distribution of contact points on the interlocking joints is presented. To validate the static problem, an experimental investigation and a discrete element-based numerical test are carried out. Using these experimental and numerical tests, the torsion-shear capacity of the cohesive interface connecting a lock to the main body of an interlocking block is calculated and compared to torsion-shear capacities obtained by the seven options of the proposed concave contact model. Implementing the proposed static problem, a flexible computational setup is developed to model and analyze free-form single-layer interlocking assemblages with stacked or running bonds. Reformulating the static problem, a new parameter is introduced to quantify the infeasibility of the interlocking assemblages due to the violation of the sliding constraint. This infeasibility measurement method is finally implemented in a novel shape optimization procedure that minimizes the sliding infeasibility of the assemblage through adjustment of the interlocking joint shapes. The application of this digital tool to analyze and optimize the interlocking assemblages, is presented using some benchmarks.