1.02 - Historic Masonry Structures

The time-dependent behaviour of ancient masonry structures, often characterized by non-homogeneous load-bearing sections, is considered among the factors affecting the structural safety of monumental buildings. Together with other synergetic aspects, this has proved to be involved in collapses, which occurred during the last thirty years. Exploiting the ancient (from the Middle Ages to the sixteenth century) masonry coming from the ruins of the collapsed tower of Pavia, several experimental procedures have been adopted to understand the phenomenon, from creep to pseudo-creep tests at different time intervals, and various rheological models have been applied to describe the creep evolution and creep-induced damage.