Scripts to model a semicircular unreinforced masonry arch under gravitational acceleration. Originally written for and run on 3DEC 5.0 (Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.). Do not use without crediting Demi Fang.
These instructions will get you a copy of the project up and running on your local machine for development and testing purposes.
Installation of 3DEC (http://www.itascacg.com/software/3dec).
Make a new 3DEC project.
Download the .3dec and .3ddat files in the repo, save where desired (recommended same location as 3DEC project), and add them to the project. They should appear in the data files section of the program.
First, run 0_2_arch.3dec. This script sets up the geometry for a semicircular arch with a fixed base. It also records the support faces. See comments within the script for more details.
Next, run boundary.3ddat. This script defines and assigns the material properties of the blocks and the joints between blocks. It also hides the fixed base block and saves the model’s state into the saved state bc.3dsav.
The remaining scripts, grav.3dec and grav_normal_and_shear.3dec, are identical with the exception that the latter contains extra code for recording the normal and shear force at the support faces (lines 6-34). Run either script to apply gravitational acceleration to the arch. It should be stable.
For an unstable arch, repeat the above steps but with 0_106_arch.3dec instead of 0_2_arch.3dec.
Not currently accepting contributions. To ask questions or report problems, contact Demi Fang.
Originally created by Demi Fang for senior thesis work at Princeton University in 2017: “Assessing the Stability of Unreinforced Masonry Arches and Vaults: A Comparison of Analytical and Numerical Strategies.” Written with the help of Anjali Mehrohtra, Rebecca Napolitano, and Jim Hazzard (Itasca).
Thanks Spencer for helping me set up my first repo!