LAUSR

This paper presents a tensegrity approach to the minimal mass design of tensile reinforcements of masonry structures with arbitrary shapes. The proposed strengthening methodology allows for the design of minimal mass resisting mechanisms of systems formed by a network of masonry rods, mainly working in compression, and grids of tensile reinforcements. Assuming a perfectly plastic response by each member, the existence of such resisting mechanisms ensures that the reinforced structure is stable under the examined loading conditions, due to the safe theorem of the limit analysis of elastic-plastic bodies. The approach proposed in this paper includes an explicit determination of the state of prestress to be applied to tensile reinforcements, in order that they are effective under pre-existing loading conditions. Several benchmark examples illustrate the potential of this approach when dealing with minimal mass reinforcements of 3D models of masonry walls under in-plane and out-of-plane forces, and a structural complex formed by a cloister vault resting on supporting walls.