Modeling bricks and mortar in an infilled frame

[staniser]

Hi all,

In my study I need to model the brick elements and the interaction of them (say, mortar) with the surrounding frame, and also with the steel strips that are laterally placed between brick layers.
For the bricks between the steel strips, I decided to use Quad element and
for the mortar, I decided to use zeroLength element with shear-deformation relation.

Are there any other options for the modeling of bricks and the interaction/mortar? I know that there is simple 8-node brick element but I could not figure how to connect it to the frame since brick has a 3D configuration in itself.

Thanks in advance.