Finite element micro-modeling for the characterization of inclined head joints archaeological masonry: the case of Villa Diomede in Pompeii

Villa Diomede is a great roman building located on the western corner of the modern archaeological site of Pompeii, built during III century BC and discovered between 1771 and 1774 during archaeological excavations. The system is composed by three levels: the road level, the garden level, which hosts the portico structure, and the underground level. The building includes diverse types of masonry with a wide range of unit shapes, dimensions and materials (i.e. tuff, limestone, volcanic stone, clay brick etc.). Besides, an unconventional tuff masonry type was observed on some structures of the garden; it reveals inclined head joints, whose structural function is still unknown. The paper reports the numerical micro-modeling of this particular texture of masonry, where the constitutive materials (tuff units and mortar) are discretized. The main goal of the work is the assessment of inclined masonry joints as an aseismic detail compared with widespread traditional tuff running bond masonry. Micro models of masonry wallettes were created assigning a non-linear constitutive behavior, i.e. total strain crack model (with a parabolic behavior in compression and an exponential softening behavior in tension, whereas damage due to tensile cracking was modeled adopting a rotating crack model). Moreover, brittle 2D interfaces were modeled between mortar and units at inclined joints surfaces. The paper focuses on numerical prediction of compressive response of masonry models subjected to uniaxial compressive tests.