Modelling and analysis of the Nîmes arena and the Arles aqueduct subjected to a seismic loading, using the Non-Smooth Contact Dynamics method

Abstract

Large stone course structures such as Roman amphitheatres or aqueducts can be modelled as collections of rigid or deformable discrete elements. The “Non-Smooth Contact Dynamics” (NSCD) computational method, on which the LMGC90 ®code used in this paper is based, is well suited to the dynamic simulation of the behaviour of such large collections of bodies with complex three-dimensional geometries. The obtained results for the simulation of the dynamic excitation for two examples of real antique structures, “Nîmes arena” and “Arles aqueduct” in France, are presented. The mechanical behaviour of the numerical models is then examined and, where possible, compared to the present state of the two-millennia-old structures.