Assessment Of The Loadbearing Capacity Of Historic Masonry

Abstract

Historic masonry differs from modern masonry by construction and material. The assessment of its loadbearing capacity therefore needs a particular approach. Technical guidelines are neither available nor desirable, because each monument requires an individual solution. The focus of this paper is to show a sensitive procedure to analyse strength and loadbearing behaviour of existing masonry, which may be applied in most cases. Special attention is paid to a suitable safety concept for existing structures. Possible ways to assess masonry strength under concentric and eccentric compression are demonstrated. The loadbearing behaviour of different types of masonry, single and multiple leaf walls, is described. The paper also deals with sampling and testing material from historic masonry in order to assess the characteristic values needed in the analysis. The reflections are based on experimental work carried out on masonry pillars and multiple leaf masonry samples, as well as on finite element analysis.