Bearing Capacity of Masonry Walls in Churches by Means of a Probabilistic Assessment

Abstract

The nonlinear computational modeling of the enclosure masonry walls in historical churches was combined with stochastic simulation techniques. The approach is interdisciplinary and shows the possibility of utilization of efficient advanced numerical tools and techniques for analysis of historical structures. The numerical results confirmed sufficient load bearing capacity of the analyzed masonry walls, and validated the structure sense of medieval architects and manual skills of local bricklayers.