Author(s)

M. Holicky, M. Sykora, V. Vacek

Abstract

Historic defensive structures are made of various types of masonry with significantly different material properties, suffering from different degrees of degradation. As a rule the information on mechanical properties of masonry components has to be obtained by testing. Estimation of masonry strength using measurements affected by various types of uncertainties appears to be a key issue of the reliability assessment. The probabilistic model of masonry strength is developed considering uncertainties in basic variables and testing procedures. Its application is illustrated by the assessment of masonry strength of the historic fortress in Terezin (Czech Republic). It is shown that the characteristics of masonry strength can be well estimated using fundamental statistical methods. The design strength obtained by the probabilistic approach may be considerably greater than the value obtained deterministically. The statistical uncertainty due to lack of data may significantly affect the predicted design value.

Keywords

historic masonry, compressive strength, probabilistic methods, fortress