Preface: COLLECTION OF PAPERS FROM 1ST FIMM: FRENCH-ITALIAN MEETING ON MASONRY, MARSEILLE (FR), 24-25 OCTOBER 2013

Abstract

The present Special Issue of The Open Civil Engineering Journal collects a selection of extended, reviewed and revised papers presented at the 1st FIMM French-Italian Meeting on Masonry, held in Marseille, France, from 24 to 25 October 2013. The organizers of the meeting were Prof. F. Lebon, Université d'Aix-Marseille Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique (FR), and Prof E. Sacco, Università di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale (IT). The main aim was to exchange new ideas and show the state of the art of different research groups active in France and Italy, two countries at the top of the world for the research on masonry. Universities involved were: Université d'Aix-Marseille (FR), Université de Montpellier 2 (FR), Université de Limoges (FR), Politecnico di Milano (IT), Università di Roma la Sapienza (IT), Università di Ferrara (IT), Università di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale (IT). A Scopus enquire with keyword “masonry” ordered by country shows 1609 records for Italy and 274 for France, with a percentage contribution respectively of 12.5% and 2.1% on the global scientific production, putting thus in evidence the importance of a tight interaction between French and Italian research groups. After the success of the first edition, the 2nd FIMM French-Italian Meeting on Masonry, will take place in Milan, Italy, from 30 to 31 October 2014. The special issue collects three papers. Fouchal et al. [1] present an evolution of the interface model originally presented by Rekik and Lebon, including cracks and roughness, with a comparison with experimental data on specimens subjected to shear tests. In the second paper, Tralli et al. [2] report a comprehensive state of the art on the cutting edge numerical research devoted to masonry vaults. Finally, Addessi et al. [3] review some advanced homogenization, micro- and macro-modelling strategies suitable for the analysis of masonry in the inelastic range. I wish to thank all the authors for their valuable contributions. All manuscripts underwent technical peer review. I therefore also wish to thank all the reviewers for their critical comments which undoubtedly improved the original technical value of all contributions.