Historic Brick Buildings Research Articles

Deterioration Effects on Bricks Masonry in the Venice Lagoon Cultural Heritage: Study of the Main Façade of the Santa Maria dei Servi Church (14th Century)

Tidal exchange, capillary rise, water condensation-evaporation cycles, and crystallization of salts are the main causes of damage in historic brick buildings in Venice. The present study addressed these issues by proposing a study of twenty-three brick samples collected on the main façade of the Santa Maria dei Servi Church (14th century). The color, mineralogical composition, and texture of these samples were studied using standard methods such as spectrophotometry, X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), optical microscopy (OM), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The presence of carbonates (calcite and dolomite) and newly formed silicate phases, such as gehlenite and diopside, provided indications of the temperatures reached during firing and suggested the absence of a good standardization in the production process. Meanwhile, XRPD and hyperspectral analysis (HA) detected sulfates (e.g., gypsum and mirabilite) as the main weathering products due to the salt decay process that affects monuments in the Venice lagoon environment. Moreover, secondary phases, such as Mg- and Ca-zeolites, occurred in bricks where the groundmass observed by OM was more vitrificated, and the XRPD patterns displayed the highest amorphous content. On-site mapping of sulfates and chlorophyll by HA was also performed on the main façade of the Church, highlighting the large presence of salts and biodeterioration.

Seismic vulnerability of historic brick masonry buildings in Vienna

This paper presents a seismic vulnerability analysis of historic brick masonry buildings in Vienna, Austria from the period of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy (1840–1918). The vulnerability study is based on comprehensive data from the devastating earthquake damage to the masonry buildings in Zagreb, Croatia on March 22, 2020, which are from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and comparable to Viennese buildings from that period, as well as on comprehensive numerical structural analyses calibrated on in situ test series. The statistical analysis of the earthquake damage to the Zagreb masonry stock and the comprehensive numerical simulations, allowed profound conclusions about the proportional damage distribution over individual structural areas of the masonry buildings, considering construction-specific characteristics such as the building height, the structural regularity/irregularity or the construction type under the ground level. This study enhances the still limited knowledge about the vulnerability of the historic brick masonry buildings from the period of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and allows extensive conclusions about the seismic vulnerability of these buildings.

Understanding Deterioration due to Salt and Ice Crystallization in Scandinavian Massive Brick Masonry

Extensive durability problems such as weathering and degradation are found in historic Scandinavian brick masonry buildings, especially from the neo-Gothic period. These are largely due to the crystallization of salts and frost action in the bricks and mortars. This article aims to show and illustrate which salts and crystals are found in historic brick masonry buildings and to describe their appearance and behavior. An additional aim is to explore possibilities of preventing salt-related damage on internal masonry wall surfaces, such as using hemp-lime sacrificial plaster beneath the plaster. The objective is to show the mechanisms behind salt-related problems and to perform a case study and a laboratory study on salt-damaged brick masonry containing sodium sulphate. In order to prevent and stop damage to the masonry, it is important to be able to identify the nature of the salt damage and the type of salt that caused the damage. Neo-Gothic brick masonry buildings require well-planned, continuous maintenance of the masonry. It is therefore of the utmost importance to have an understanding of the complex functions of the masonry and of the salts that can cause damage to these historic buildings.

Contemporary Architectural Design in the Context of Historic Remains: The Case of the Old City of Gdańsk

ABSTRACT Architects, civil engineers, and other specialists planning modern projects in historical centers of European cities face extremely difficult historical and spatial conditions. They also come across technical problems related to the need to save valuable heritage assets consisting of historical buildings. These problems are most pronounced in cities that have suffered significant war damage. Such cities include Gdańsk (Poland), which was almost completely destroyed during World War II. Despite the successful rebuilding of the city by the post-war generation of builders, there are still empty spaces and quarters, as well as fragments of historic frontages to be filled in the old town of Gdańsk. This article presents several examples of modern developments designed to preserve and coexist with fragments of historic brick buildings. These building projects each faced a similar task; to save and display the historical urban fabric, but they differed significantly in how they chose to achieve that goal. Not all of the projects presented in this study meet the requirements of the Venice Charter equally well. In this field, the solution often means choosing the “lesser evil”. Each of the projects presents a unique example of interdisciplinary research used to solve complex construction problems. Numerical analysis using the finite element method (including the damage model based on plastic degradation adopted for brick walls)was carried out for one of the projects.

Which methods are suitable to assess the effectiveness of chemical injection treatments in the laboratory?

Resin injection is a widespread technique to fight rising damp in historic brick masonry buildings, but the evaluation of its drying effectiveness is often hard, also due to the lack of standard procedures to test the different damp-proofing materials. Some testing procedures have been proposed in national guidelines and scientific literature to assess the effectiveness of chemical injection in laboratory, but they reflect very different approaches and are hard to compare.This paper firstly provides a critical overview of the presently available methods to assess the effectiveness of chemical injections in brick masonry at the laboratory scale, highlighting their main advantages and drawbacks. Then, two different experimental test walls are proposed, having large and small size, respectively. The test walls were manufactured and subjected to a continuous capillary rise of water, monitoring the moisture amount by a micro-destructive method based on “permanent sampling holes”. Both test walls allowed to effectively reproduce rising damp occurring in real masonry walls and to monitor the moisture amount during time by an easy and reliable method. Large walls involve a long curing time (more than 1 year in laboratory conditions) and are quite space consuming, but they are less affected by the microclimatic variations. Conversely, small walls are more easy to handle, but also more affected by RH changes. The proposed test walls aim at contributing to the future development of a new testing procedure to evaluate chemical damp-proof courses in laboratory.

Numerical optimization of integrated passive heating and cooling systems yields simple protocols for building energy decarbonization

Passive heating and cooling systems have the potential to reduce space-heating and space-cooling loads in buildings significantly, with minimal embodied energy investment and extremely low operational energy demand. Excellent performance requires movable insulation, operable shading, operable vents, and other adjustable elements, but effective methods for controlling their operation have not yet been established. In particular, the numerical optimization of interdependent passive heating and cooling parameters to maintain thermal comfort has not yet been demonstrated; development of simplified control strategies has not been explored; and resulting load reductions have not been estimated. Here, we investigate these problems in planning for the adaptive reuse of an historic brick office building in the Mediterranean climate of Berkeley, California. Using Hooke-Jeeves and particle-swarm optimizations of passive system parameters in a field-validated EnergyPlus model, constrained to develop monthly schedules responding only to time or temperature, we find that near-optimal configuration and control of passive solar collection eliminate over half of the baseline heating load; likewise, well-controlled shading and natural ventilation eliminate ∼80% of the cooling load. Together, these results reveal the magnitude of the passive space-conditioning resource in this energy-intensive region and demonstrate the power of simple, effective operational strategies to realize substantial energy savings.

In-Plane Seismic Response Analyses of a Historical Brick Masonry Building Using Equivalent Frame and 3D FEM Modeling Approaches

ABSTRACT This article aims at contributing to the seismic performance assessment of a historic brick masonry building by finding a strength reduction coefficient through the use of linear and nonlinear modeling approaches, using Finite Element Method and Equivalent Frame modeling. To reduce the uncertainties, ambient vibration tests (AVT) were implemented. Series of simulations was performed using nonlinear dynamic analyses and incremental dynamic analysis curves were compared with the pushover curves. Results indicate that the mass-proportional pushover curve meets the mean of results obtained from IDA and the strength reduction coefficient falls into the range given in EN 1998–1 for unreinforced masonry.

Experimental Study of the Mechanical Behaviour of Bricks from 19th and 20th Century Buildings in the Province of Zamora (Spain)

Interventions in historic brick buildings require an exhaustive analysis of the current characteristics of bricks in order to establish the role performed by these elements in the buildings. This study presents the results of an experimental analysis of the compressive strength of brick specimens extracted from different buildings built in the 19th and 20th centuries in the province of Zamora (Spain). The study analyses specimens with very different characteristics to compare results from different masonry units and manufacturing processes. Specimens are classified into four groups according to their macroscopic and microscopic analyses. Compressive strength results are correlated to the above classification and to the results of density, absorption and open porosity of the samples. The compressive strength results present high variation between clay bricks (9.2–64.4 N/mm2) and between samples extracted from the same brick due to the heterogeneity of the material. Correlations between compressive strength and open porosity, absorption and dry density values are observed, with less dispersion in the case of high sintering level, up to 1000 °C. Finally, the compliance with the current Spanish Technical Building Code with respect to their compressive strength is checked.

Three-dimensional building façade segmentation and opening area detection from point clouds

Laser scanning generates a point cloud from which geometries can be extracted, but most methods struggle to do this automatically, especially for the entirety of an architecturally complex building (as opposed to that of a single façade). To address this issue, this paper introduces the Improved Slicing Method (ISM), an innovative and computationally-efficient method for three-dimensional building segmentation. The method is also able to detect opening boundaries even on roofs (e.g. chimneys), as well as a building’s overall outer boundaries using a local density analysis technique. The proposed procedure is validated by its application to two architecturally complex, historic brick buildings. Accuracies of at least 86% were achieved, with computational times as little as 0.53 s for detecting features from a data set of 5.0 million points. The accuracy more than rivalled the current state of the art, while being up to six times faster and with the further advantage of requiring no manual intervention or reliance on a priori information.

Thermal performance of internally insulated historic brick building in cold climate: A long term case study

Historic buildings built before 1945 make up a significant part of the building stock in the European Union. They also contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions due to high energy consumption. However, policy makers and building owners are facing “building energy efficiency-heritage value” dilemma when, on the one hand it is important to preserve a building’s heritage value and on the other hand, energy consumption should be reduced significantly. Internal insulation is one of the energy efficiency measures that can be applied. However, this is one of the most challenging and complex energy efficiency measures due to changes in boundary conditions and hygrothermal behaviour of the wall, especially in cold climate. We aimed to study the thermal behaviour of two internal insulation materials applied to historic masonry building in a cold climate. We carried out long term in-situ measurements of heat flux and temperature for internal insulation with aerogel and vacuum insulation panels (VIP) in the case study building in the historic quarter of Riga, Latvia. The original walls are made of 51cm thick calcium silicate bricks. They were poorly maintained and heavily damaged by moisture before energy efficiency renovation. After renovation the external surface of walls was painted with self-cleaning, water repellent hydrophobic facade paint. The energy efficiency renovation also included insulation of floor and roof, change of windows, new ventilation and air heat pump installation. The analysis of the thermal behaviour show that the masonry part of the wall is exposed to freezing risk for a significant number of days during the winter. Calcium silicate bricks are very sensitive to freeze-thaw damage therefore we carried out computer simulation for the assessment of hygrothermal behaviour. Results show that the calcium silicate masonry part of the internally insulated wall in cold climate leads to exposure to freeze-thaw damage if the moisture content of the brick is higher than the capillary saturation. This process strongly depends on unfavourable outdoor conditions for wall types with and without water repellent hydrophobic paint.

Slicing Method for curved façade and window extraction from point clouds

Laser scanning technology is a fast and reliable method to survey structures. However, the automatic conversion of such data into solid models for computation remains a major challenge, especially where non-rectilinear features are present. Since, openings and the overall dimensions of the buildings are the most critical elements in computational models for structural analysis, this article introduces the Slicing Method as a new, computationally-efficient method for extracting overall façade and window boundary points for reconstructing a façade into a geometry compatible for computational modelling. After finding a principal plane, the technique slices a façade into limited portions, with each slice representing a unique, imaginary section passing through a building. This is done along a façade’s principal axes to segregate window and door openings from structural portions of the load-bearing masonry walls. The method detects each opening area’s boundaries, as well as the overall boundary of the façade, in part, by using a one-dimensional projection to accelerate processing. Slices were optimised as 14.3slices per vertical metre of building and 25slices per horizontal metre of building, irrespective of building configuration or complexity. The proposed procedure was validated by its application to three highly decorative, historic brick buildings. Accuracy in excess of 93% was achieved with no manual intervention on highly complex buildings and nearly 100% on simple ones. Furthermore, computational times were less than 3sec for data sets up to 2.6 million points, while similar existing approaches required more than 16hr for such datasets.

Energy Performance of Historical Brick Buildings in Northern Climate Zone

Abstract Historic buildings are considered to be one of the precious gems of Europe, which defines its character and rich cultural heritage. Therefore historical buildings with historical significance must be valued and preserved. The climate conditions to which buildings are subjected may deteriorate their structural elements therefore reducing their life span. As there are several types of historic building structural elements, there are also several types of possible solutions for historical building structural element protection from further deterioration. Also there is a necessity to assess current heat energy consumption in historical buildings to develop each specific case tailored energy efficiency improvement and facade protection measures. Therefore there is a necessity for historical building typology development, to distinguish different historical building structural elements with similar properties which may have similar measures for building envelope protection and heat energy reduction. This research focuses on historic brick building heat energy consumption analysis to define benchmarks and to analyse the influence of various different building material characteristics on historic building heat energy consumption.

Thermal insulation alternatives of historic brick buildings in Baltic Sea Region

The growth in building refurbishment works is creating a demand for suitable materials, retrofitting techniques and research. The differences between refurbishment of new-build projects and historical or valuable buildings are insufficiently recognized – mostly the buildings without further cultural preservation requirements are studied. This article covers the theme of retrofitting the historical buildings, when due to the valuable facade or other heritage preservation requirements only the inside insulation is allowed. The problems of moisture in brick wall construction, loosing space, etc. are discussed and method for selecting best insulation option is shown. The 5 modern insulation materials are selected, measurements are made and best alternative is found using TOPSIS method with grey numbers.

Energetic Refurbishment of Historic Brick Buildings: Problems and Opportunities

Abstract Building standards for energy effectiveness are increasing constantly and the market follows these changes by constructing new buildings in accordance with standards and refurbishment of the existing housing stock. Comprehensive trends in European construction market show tremendous increase in building retrofit works. It can be predicted that after the end of this decade, more than half of the construction works in European cities will be taking place in existing buildings, pushing the construction of new buildings to a less important role. Such a growth in building refurbishment works is creating a demand for suitable materials, retrofitting techniques and research. The differences between refurbishment of new-build projects and historical or valuable buildings are insufficiently recognized - mostly the buildings without further cultural preservation requirements are studied. This article covers the theme of refurbishment measures in historical buildings - the specific measures like inside insulation which are allowed due to the valuable façade or other heritage preservation requirements. An overview of other innovative methods for energy saving in existing buildings and their potential is given.

Earthquake Resistance Of A Historical BrickBuilding In Akita Prefecture, Japan

Earthquake Resistance Of A Historical BrickBuilding In Akita Prefecture, Japan

Impact of wind-driven rain on historic brick wall buildings in a moderately cold and humid climate: Numerical analyses of mould growth risk, indoor climate and energy consumption

This paper gives an onset to whole building hygrothermal modelling in which the interaction between interior and exterior climates via building enclosures is simulated under a moderately cold and humid climate. The focus is particularly on the impact of wind-driven rain (WDR) on the hygrothermal response, mould growth at interior wall surfaces, indoor climate and energy consumption. First the WDR load on the facades of a 4 m × 4 m × 10 m tower is determined. Then the hygrothermal behaviour of the brick walls is analysed on a horizontal slice through the tower. The simulations demonstrate that the impact of WDR loads on the moisture contents in the walls is much larger near the edges of the walls than at the centre. The obtained relative humidity and temperature at the interior wall surfaces are combined with isopleths of generalised spore germination time of fungus mould. The results show that WDR loads can have a significant impact on mould growth especially at the edges of the walls. Finally, for the case analysed, the WDR load causes a significant increase of indoor relative humidity and energy consumption for heating.

Metal content in river suspended particulate matter: data on Po River.

The present study summarizes the last ten years of literature on heavy metal distribution in Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and dissolved phase in the Po River (Italy). The work compares different methodologies employed to collect, concentrate and fractionate the samples. The importance of metal speciation as a function of particle size is underlined and two approaches to metal speciation in the colloidal fraction of Po River SPM are presented: Sedimentation Field-Flow Fractionation (SdFFF) and pH-dependent extractions. Finally, emphasis is placed on the need for comparison with a reference "natural background level" of the metal load in Po River particulate matter in order to determine the real human contribution to river pollution. The high values of some trace transition elements, such as Cr and Ni, have been compared with clay sediments around Ferrara and with bricks in historic buildings. The highly comparable natural concentration of these metals in Po fine sedimentary rocks and in historic brick buildings of Ferrara (XII-XVI centuries) can provide information on natural geochemical anomalies.

God, Gandhi, and Guns: The African American Freedom Struggle in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1964-1965

Previous articleNext article No AccessGod, Gandhi, and Guns: The African American Freedom Struggle in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1964-1965Simon WendtSimon Wendt Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of African American History Volume 89, Number 1Winter 2004 A journal of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/4134045 Views: 46Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Jackson Brewery: Upgrading an Historic Unreinforced Brick Building

The Jackson Brewery, a five story unreinforced brick building and an historic landmark, was seismically upgraded to meet the requirements of the 1990 San Francisco Building Code. Portions of the building had been damaged during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Repair work and seismic upgrading had to meet the standards of the city's Landmarks Board. Various seismic schemes were evaluated. An eccentric brace scheme was selected. This solution had the least impact on the building's facades and did not significantly increase the mass of the building. Structural details are exposed and some details, such as collector angles, underwent significant re-design to lower cost and integrate with the architectural design of the building.

Seismic Performance of Joist‐Pocket Connections. I: Modeling

This paper outlines the development of a technique for the examination of the seismic performance of joist and beam bearing connections in unreinforced masonry structures. An understanding of these “pocket” connections will allow for better estimates of the behavior of brick buildings, and provide a useful tool for the design of seismic retrofit details, particularly in cases when it is imperative to minimize the interventions. A finite‐element model that accounts for the friction and impact behavior at the diaphragm‐to‐wall interface is developed. An equivalent coefficient‐of‐restitution procedure is described to account for energy loss in collisions between flexible bodies. Several simple but representative examples illustrate the method and demonstrate its ability to capture the sliding and impact behavior at the connection detail. (In the companion paper, a historic brick building that was shaken during the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, is modeled using the approach described herein.)