Failure analysis of masonry arch with no-horizontal support settlement

In this paper, the Principle of Virtual Work was applied to evaluate the collapse mechanism shape, the support reaction forces and the thrust line of masonry arch with no-horizontal springing settlement. Considering the hypothesis of finite displacement, an iterative algorithm was performed with the aim to describe the arch mechanism at every step of imposed springing settlement. In addition, the ultimate displacement causing the complete failure of masonry arch with no-horizontal springing settlement has been determined by the iterative scheme. Finally, an experimental test was conducted to validate the results obtained by the analytical method.