Europe is replete with diverse cultural buildings, ranging from large and impressive Roman amphitheatres to small and modest dwellings in European cities’ historic quarters. Despite differences in dimensions, architecture and use, all structures share a common construction technique: brick or stone masonry. 

Europe’s built cultural heritage is very diverse, ranging from large and impressive Roman amphitheaters to small and modest dwellings of European cities’ historic quarters. Despite the immense differences in dimensions, architecture and use, these structures share the construction technique: brick or stone masonry.

Built cultural heritage is a key factor for Europe’s social cohesion, economic growth and sustainable development. However, heritage structures in a large part of Europe are under the threat of earthquakes. While we can do nothing to prevent earthquakes, we can prepare predictive tools for assessing the seismic safety of masonry structures. 

This proposal aims to develop numerical CRACK simulation and Identification Techniques (CRACK-IT) for stone masonry structures that can be used in professional practice. To achieve this, we will first develop a crack detection tool that will allow the automatic and objective crack documentation of damaged masonry structures, by combining information from experiments with image processing and machine learning aproaches. 

This tool aims to be applicable in post-earthquake surveys for automated crack detection in masonry structures. Second, we will develop and validate a structural analysis tool that permits the efficient and accurate simulation of stone masonry structures and the robust estimation of their seismic response. For this, we will focus on the simulation of irregular stone masonry, because despite being a common used typology in historic structures, there is still no structural analysis approach tailored to it. 

The core for the development of these two numerical tools will be the execution of an experimental campaign including the shear-compression tests of irregular stone masonry walls. This campaign, apart from allowing the validation of the numerical tools, will give the first experimental dataset on the effect of the size of masonry walls to their in-plane structural response.

Coordinator

• ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE

Start date: 1 February 2021 - End date: 31 January 2023

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 896761.