Abstract
The Maniace Castle in Syracuse, Italy, built under Emperor Frederick II in the first half of the 13th century, is analyzed from a structural point of view by means of a detailed 3D Finite Element model. The castle was struck by many catastrophic events during the centuries, which heavily damaged the structure and caused subsequent changes in the origi-nal implant. After a concise description of the main architectural characteristics of the building and its actual state of degradation, two full 3D FE numerical analyses are discussed, representing respectively the present geometric configuration and that ob-tained after a hypothetical intervention aimed at reporting the structure into its original conceived shape. Conventional static analyses in the linear range are performed on such large scale meshes, under gravity loads and horizontal loads con-ventionally representing seismic excitation, respectively investigating the role played by self-weight into the degradation of some structural elements (particularly central columns of the hypostyle hall) and the effect induced by horizontal forces on both the global behavior and the local widespread local regions with positive stresses. On the basis of such numerical results, some useful observations to be considered in a future plan of restoration aimed at reporting the castle in its origi-nal configuration are finally provided.
Highlights
Conventional static analyses in the linear range are performed on such large scale meshes, under gravity loads and horizontal loads conventionally representing seismic excitation, respectively investigating the role played by self-weight into the degradation of some structural elements and the effect induced by horizontal forces on both the global behavior and the local widespread local regions with positive stresses
The Maniace Castle stands on the tip of the island of Ortigia (Syracuse), where it was built in the first half of the XIII century by Frederick II's trusty architect, Richard of Lentini, who designed Ursino Castle in Catania
While the models are fully elastic and the analyses are performed with the commercial code ABAQUS, some interesting insights into the actual behavior of the castle in the presence of gravity loads and seismic action may be provided
Summary
The Maniace Castle stands on the tip of the island of Ortigia (Syracuse), where it was built in the first half of the XIII century by Frederick II's trusty architect, Richard of Lentini, who designed Ursino Castle in Catania. The approach is fully numerical and provides an insight, from a structural point of view, on the seismic performance of the castle as it is and after its hypothetical modification towards its original configuration It is worth noting that this value of acceleration has no meaning in terms of seismic verification, but it is olny functional to obtain a meaningful picture of the internal stresses in the event of an earthquake of high destructive potential It will be shown how the model of the castle representing the original hypothetic configuration exhibits a quite different global behavior and how local interventions aimed at a seismic vulnerability reduction of some structural elements would be beneficial
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