To design out-of-plane loaded masonry cladding panels, as well as modern non-loadbearing masonry panels, the yield-line method has become widely used by engineers, and features in various design codes. However, the traditional hand-based yield-line analysis method can be challenging to apply to complex or irregular shapes, since the form of the critical yield-line pattern will generally not be known in advance. The discontinuity layout optimization (DLO) procedure, previously applied to reinforced concrete slabs, is here extended to treat masonry wall panels, with (i) the flexural moment capacity modified to take account of vertical dead loads from above; and (ii) shear failure also modelled, if critical (e.g., at damp proof course level). A key benefit of DLO is that the critical yield-line pattern can be identified automatically, with a rigorous linear programming-based formulation employed to ensure that a globally optimal solution is obtained for any given numerical discretization. Given the power of modern desktop PCs, this effectively eliminates the possibility of the critical yield-line failure mechanism being missed, allowing the presented method to be applied with confidence to both regular and complex-shaped masonry panels. A range of examples are used to demonstrate the efficacy of the approach, with solutions compared with those from analytical models and experimental tests.

中文翻译：

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平面外加载的砌体覆层板的自动屈服线分析


为了设计平面外加载的砌体覆层板以及现代非承重砌体板，屈服线方法已被工程师广泛使用，并在各种设计规范中得到体现。然而，传统的基于手工的屈服线分析方法可能难以应用于复杂或不规则的形状，因为通常无法提前知道关键屈服线模式的形式。以前应用于钢筋混凝土板的不连续布局优化 （DLO） 程序在这里扩展到处理砖石墙板，其中 （i） 修改了弯矩承载力以考虑来自上方的垂直静荷载;（ii） 剪切破坏也建模，如果非常严重（例如，在防潮球场级别）。DLO 的一个主要优点是可以自动识别关键屈服线模式，并采用严格的基于线性规划的公式来确保为任何给定的数值离散化获得全局最优解。鉴于现代台式 PC 的强大功能，这有效地消除了错过关键屈服线失效机制的可能性，从而使所提出的方法能够自信地应用于常规和复杂形状的砖石面板。使用一系列示例来证明该方法的有效性，并将解决方案与分析模型和实验测试中的解决方案进行比较。