Proceso de rotura de una cúpula oval en la catedral de Tortosa. Análisis del mecanismo de colapso

Abstract

In April of 2011, one of the masonry domes of the cathedral of Tortosa enclosure (Tarragona), built at late XVIII century, suddenly broke. The paper presents the evolution of the rupture and its causes, analyzing the cracking process initiated with the runout of the lantern. It is analyzed the equilibrium conditions starting from the initial constructive assessment in order to know the behavior of the dome and its bearing capacity. There are used complementary traditional graphical methods and tridimensional models by finite elements (FEM) by means of the free software Salome-Meca 6.3. Through the interpretation of the results, the assessment concludes that the dome by itself can hold the weight of the lantern. Thus, the cracking of one of the roof beams causes the bending of the lantern, and therefore the formation of collapse joints from the asymmetrical distribution of loads.