Keywords: 3D limit analysis, masonry pagoda, second-order cone programming, homogeneous modeling, rigid block modeling, seismic loading.

Masonry pagodas constitute a large proportion of Chinese architectural heritage. Despite standing for hundreds of years, these structures have accumulated various forms of damage, making them increasingly vulnerable to natural hazards and ex-treme loads. Furthermore, their characteristic slenderness significantly compromis-es their seismic resistance. This paper aims to explore a suitable modeling approach for masonry pagodas within the limit analysis framework, providing a rapid tool that could serve in the further seismic vulnerability analysis of these constructions. In recent numerical studies based on 3D limit analysis, the deformability of the ma-sonry is usually not fully taken into account, and the material plasticity is typically reduced to the interfaces. This contribution develops formulations for 3D limit analysis that allow both element dissipation and interfacial discontinuity, which can eventually be formulated as standard Second-Order Cone Programming (SOCP). Implementing the formulations, the collapse of the pagoda in Zhen-Guo Temple is investigated as a case study. Three different models for the pagoda are compared, considering either element dissipation or interfacial discontinuities. The results are also benchmarked with the previous finite element solution for validation. The comparative studies have highlighted that accounting for energy dissipation at both elements and interfaces is essential when simulating the collapse of masonry pago-das. However, the suitability of the constitutive model for interfaces and elements remains an ongoing investigation, which is essential for precisely reproducing the typical crack propagation in pagoda collapses.

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