Experimental test on a fibre-reinforced scaled cross vault subjected to in-plane shear displacements at the springings

Abstract

This work investigates the behaviour of unreinforced and reinforced cross vaults subjected to static shear deformation at the springings through an experimental campaign. An earlier companion paper discussed the results of a pseudo-static test performed on a 1:4 scaled model, built with timber blocks and lime mortar, applying shear displacements to two abutments until failure. This paper illustrates the effects of the same action applied to the same model after extrados reinforcement with Fibre Reinforced Polymer strips. Crack patterns and displacement evolution are presented and compared with those of the unreinforced model to evaluate the effectiveness of this seismic strengthening technique.

Shaking table testing of groin vaults made by 3D printers

“…Mechanical failure was mostly the result of shearing causing dislocations and crack propagation. The crack pattern observed before collapse is similar to that obtained earlier by some of the authors with pseudo-static tests that investigated the effects of inplane shear displacements at the springings of cross vaults [19], [43]. It is worth noticing that this crack pattern is in agreement with that detected at the intrados of the nave vaults next to the façade (same boundary conditions as in Configuration 2) in churches following major earthquakes [44], [45].…”

Seismic response of a small-scale masonry cross vault: Experimental investigation by performing quasi-static and shake table tests

“…Even though the target failure mechanism was the one related to the shear failure, the vault collapsed at 0.4 g, due to the activation of an out-of-plane mechanism that led to the development of the typical four-hinge mechanism. Carfagnini (2018) and Baraccani (2020) performed also important works on this topic. They tested a 1:4 scaled specimen of a Gothic cross vault, subjected to shear deformation at two of its springings.…”