Numerical Modelling of Historic Vaulted Timber Structures

Abstract

Historic timber structures forming vaulted roofs of public and ecclesiastical buildings are present worldwide. The structural response of these constructions is usually governed by the structural performance of the joints, the interaction between the timber structure and the masonry parts, and the current condition of both joints and timber members. At present, numerical approaches, such as finite element method-based approaches are well-established tools for investigating the global response of complex historic structures. Using a FE-based software package, the authors developed a numerical model of a portion of an existing historic vaulted timber structure, which is part of the roof of the Cathedral of Ica in Peru, considering the in-plane semi-rigid response of the planked arches in the elastic range. For this purpose, the rotational and shear stiffness of the joints and the properties of the materials, which are assumed in good conditions, are calibrated by comparing the numerical outputs with experimental results available in literature. The aim of the work presented here is to compare the response of the same vault assuming either continuous (planks continuously connected) or discontinuous arches (modelling of the semi-rigid response of the joints which connect the planks together).