Seismic Assessment of Masonry Cross Vaults Through Numerical Nonlinear Static and Dynamic Analysis

Abstract

Masonry vaults represent a pleasant typology of structural horizontal element in traditional architecture and historical buildings, widespread on a large scale along all the European countries, even those characterized by a high level of seismicity. However, they are some of the most vulnerable structural elements particularly under dynamic actions. Therefore, the assessment of their structural safety and the determination of their stress field is a very important task for preservation of historic buildings. Vaults have been studied from an architectural and structural point of view as sequences of arches, and thus extending the use of bidimensional tools of analysis. This assumption can be reliable for the analysis of barrel vaults, but it is not always the most appropriate solution for investigating more complex vaulted systems with a not negligible three-dimensional behavior. The paper presents on the analysis of a particular groin vault, typically found in monumental buildings which will be successively tested during an experimental dynamic campaign on the shake table. Among all the failure mechanisms of this type of vault, the shear failure is one of the most frequently recorded during post-earthquake surveys. The activation of the shear response is caused by asymmetric boundary conditions and difference in stiffness between two sides of the vault, as it occurs in groin vaults covering churches aisles characterized by the presence of a perimeter wall on one side and two columns on the other side. The main aim of the paper is to investigate the seismic response of a brick groin vault simulating the boundary conditions and loadings of an aisle in a three naves church prototype. Static and dynamic nonlinear numerical analyses were performed using a finite element model. The boundary conditions simulate from one side the presence of a perimeter wall and from the other side the two columns between the main and the lateral nave. The role of the infill and of the amplification of the seismic input are investigated. The results are analyzed in terms of ultimate displacement capacity, crack pattern and damage mechanisms.

Pre- and Post-Diction Simulation of the Seismic Response of a Masonry Cross Vault Tested on a Shaking Table

“…All the models agreed with experimental load-carrying capacity prediction and failure mechanism results. In (Bianchini et al 2019), the authors summarised the results of numerical analyses conducted on a full-scale model of a brick masonry groin vault characterised by asymmetric boundary conditions before performing shake table tests. All numerical simulations were performed using a Total-Strain Rotating Crack Model.…”

Structural Analysis of Masonry Square Vaults in the Italian Region of Apulia

“…All the papers dealing with the mechanical behavior of the vaults are focused on barrel vaults or cross vaults; in [16], a comparison among different methods to model barrel vaults was carried out, and in [17], a cross vault was analyzed, considering the effect of different brick patterns. The present paper intends to shed light on the mechanical behavior of two typical vaults in Puglia, the "volta a spigoli" (edge vault) and the "volta a squadro" (square vault).…”

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

“…The research presented in this paper aims at extending the study to a three-dimensional behaviour. The comparison between static and shake table tests is fundamental because, in the most recent codes and guidelines, nonlinear static analysis is still the most used type of analysis to assess the behaviour of the masonry structures (static approach) (Modena 2020;Bianchini et al 2019). Still, nonlinear dynamic analysis, despite the heavier computational effort, may lead to more realistic results.…”