Abstract
The paper presents a diagnosis of damage to heritage structures based on the case of the historic church in Kożuchów. The Church of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary dates back to the thirteenth century and is an important sacral building in south-west Poland. Renovation and strengthening works have been conducted in recent years with the goal of structurally stabilizing the heritage building. The paper includes a short history of the building, as well as a review of contemporary diagnostic methods used in heritage buildings with emphasis on the methods used in the diagnosis of the discussed object. Correct diagnosis of the heritage building is the key to selecting an optimal design solution for supporting and strengthening the building structure. Pre-design analysis was based on a geotechnical assessment of ground conditions, identifying cracking patterns of walls and vaults, preparing a digital model using Heritage—Building Information Modeling technology and performing structural analysis. The main cause of cracking of the walls and vaults of the church is related to uneven subsidence and localized stability loss of the building’s foundations, resulting from differentiated soil and water conditions beneath the building. Based on the research and analysis, final conclusions and proposals for strengthening the structure were presented, including jet-grouting columns, tie rods and Fibre Reinforced Cementitious Matrix systems.
Highlights
Various causes of damage of heritage buildings Historical structures are important elements of culture and a source of knowledge for shaping social consciousness
It was estimated that the internal stresses in the walls caused by horizontal forces from the roof are on the low level and do not have crucial meaning for the cracking appearance in the vaults, but there was a need to add tie rod to ensure the stability of high top walls
H-BIM method is an advanced approach that allows to obtain detailed building and structural model and gives the opportunity to conduct a global analysis of the technical state and state of stresses
Summary
Various causes of damage of heritage buildings Historical structures are important elements of culture and a source of knowledge for shaping social consciousness. Increased degradation of heritage buildings, which has been observed in recent years, demands development of effective diagnostic methods as a basis for selecting the most appropriate conservation interventions to strengthen the historical structures. Heritage buildings were built dozens or hundreds of years ago. They were built over long periods of time. Over the years, they experienced damage and breakdown, and were as a result subjected to repairs. They experienced damage and breakdown, and were as a result subjected to repairs These interventions impacted the static status of the structure, often curtailing degradation processes. At the same time, this prevented a return to the original state of the structure in later years
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