Modeling Tools for the Mechanical Behavior of Historic Masonry Structures

The study presented herein has been performed in ARIAM-LAREA and focuses on the modelling and the analysis of the mechanical behaviour of historic masonry structures. Initially, we present a tool of interactive evaluation of the thrust of a masonry structure. To this end we use a program of dynamic geometry and apply some fundamental concepts of graphic statics. A tool for the evaluation of the stability of typical structural systems encountered in medieval structures is, also, presented for dead-loading and for pseudo-static seismic loading and it is applied to the analysis of the medieval church Santa Maria del Bourgo of Rhodes, Greece. This approach, based on limit analysis, is particularly suitable for two-dimensional or pseudo threedimensional configurations of structures and loadings.